The Weight of Your Lips
by brethewriter
Summary: The long awaited sequel to Just One Kiss is finally here! After the events of the summer solstice, the world changed. Without a king to rule, the kingdom went to Maleficent. But a rebellion is brewing and they finally have the one person they need to stop Maleficent. These are the first steps toward her defeat and the rightful heir reaching the throne.
1. Chapter 1

_Hello Everyone! It feels like forever since I've been back! Without further ado, enjoy part II_

The young woman and her three companions approached the glass case with reverence and fear. The attempt to reach it feeling like an eternity. To finally stand before it with minimal casualties felt like a miracle. She swallowed hard as she took a few more shaking steps closer. If it didn't work, if somehow their rescue mission had been bust, the kingdom, no, the entire world was doomed. Everything hinged on their mission and they could not fail, no matter what the costs.

Even her male companions, usually loud and boisterous, bragging out their skills, or counting their casualties, were stunned into silence as they stared down into the glass case, a familiar sight greeting their eyes. They all stood in silent reverence for a few more seconds, their ears primed toward the door for anyone following them, their eyes trained on the glass coffin before them.

The stronger of her three companions began prying the glass lid from the case but the smallest stopped him. "Are we sure it's her?" He asked, looking from the girl in the stained glass coffin to his companions, with various shades of bruises and dried blood against their skin. "We only have enough antidote for one attempt."

They all knew that. They knew how difficult it has been over the past year and several months. They had witnessed firsthand the rift the Summer Solstice celebrations had torn across the entire kingdom. They had all known the loss, the ripping away of everything new and comfortable, the loss of everything they had loved.

As they stood in the decrepit ball room, the one that had once held so much happiness until everything had turned sour. Their goal finally reached, the young woman couldn't help but heave a sigh of relief, even though their rescue mission was far from over. It had taken them months to even come up with the possible solution to their problem, and months longer to perfect it.

They had one shot, and if it didn't work, they were all dead.

"We don't have any other options," The young woman decided, pulling the vial from the young man's hands. She pulled the stopper as their strongest companion lifted the lid to reveal a young woman in a deathlike sleep with hair the color of eggplant. "Let's hope this works," She said before she forced the young woman's mouth open and emptied the entire vial down her throat.

After that, they waited, eyes on the girl, ears trained for any sign of trouble.

She jolted awake, sputtering and coughing as the liquid coated her throat and threatened to enter her lungs. She swallowed it down, though it was the consistency of warm honey and tasted even worse.

She looked around to see four pairs of eyes staring back at her as she took a few deep breaths to right herself.

Evie, the only other female out of the group of them, was crying, tears running down her dirty cheeks, leaving light streaks, relief washing over her face as she looked at Mal. She didn't look anything like Mal had remembered her, and for a few brief seconds as she gathered her thoughts, and before the memories came rushing back, she considered that it could be a dream.

Doug stared in reverence and surprise, the crossbow he held in his hands falling slack as his attention was torn between herself and Evie, relief and apprehension playing on his face, dirtied like Evie's and hardened with something that Mal was missing.

A kind of fear flashed in all of their eyes, the fear she had once loved to cause.

Jay had a smile on his face, and she expected nothing less from the thief and the brawler, the redness of his knuckles, his clothing marked with the dark brown lines of aged blood evidence enough that he had reveled in using his fists recently. He looked the same as the others, a sense of relief washing over him, though it appeared no water had for quite some time.

Carlos, the youngest of them, his features still halfway between a boy's and a man's, looked on with frightened reverence before he stumbled forward, bowing to her shortly, causing the others to all turn to him and pull him up. Fear etched on all of their faces.

"What's going on?" Mal finally asked, looking to each of them for a few seconds, her confusion only mounting as she looked from them to the room around them and back.

It had to be some kind of nightmare, she decided, when she saw how they were all dressed, in tattered and dirty clothing, their faces dirty and coated in sweat and grime. When she looked around at where they were, the ballroom of the summer castle, though it was barely recognizable with the tattered curtains, cracked tiles and general grime and dust that had settled over everything, she knew something had to be wrong. It had to be a nightmare, or a practical joke. Someone was missing.

"Where is Ben?" She asked, suddenly quite concerned, looking to each of them for any kind of answer, either about how she got there or where the crowned King happened to be.

At the mention of him, several things happened. Each of their faces flashed a quick bit of nervousness each in their own way, then returned to neutral, or as close to possible. Evie and Jay's faces hardened further as a loud crash came against the large doors, sealed shut from the inside.

Jay, Carlos and Doug turned toward the noise, but Evie moved closer to her as the crashes only became louder. Someone or something was trying to break through the doors.

"Mal, sweetie," Evie started, leaning down to meet her eye level. "We'll tell you more later, but he couldn't come save you." She didn't use his name and that worried Mal for a reason she couldn't explain why.

Save her? Just what the hell had happened?

Evie put her hand against Mal's shoulder gently, but with enough force that was comfortable, but told her they were scared, all of them. "I need you to be fully prepared to kill and maim," She told her, "We have to get out of here and the only way we can is if we fight our way out."

What the hell was going on? Fight what?

It had to be a nightmare.

"Where is Ben?!" Mal growled, grabbing Evie's throat hard, remembering just how much force it would take to break her neck, magic or not.

There was something they all weren't telling her.

"The Ben you know is dead!" Jay finally shouted as he stood waiting for a fight with whatever came through the doors.

Mal released Evie instantly, the impact of Jay's words impaling her like a knife, sending ice through her veins. Cool anger, hot anger, fear, sadness all flowed through her at once, her mind racing, a million and one questions fighting for dominance in her mind.

How had it happened?

Where did he take his last breath?

When? Had the kiss that they shared had a delayed effect and killed him after some time?

Who? Had she been the one to take his first kiss and his life?

That last one fueled her hot anger, rage flowing through her skin and her bones and bringing forth the kind of magic that she had tried so hard to avoid since coming to Auradon. The magic that her mother had specialized in.

Revenge Magic flowed through her, black and hot and molten and she forced herself to her feet, wanting, needing to fulfill the revenge that had taken over her. Revenge against whoever had taken her Ben from her too soon. Revenge for whatever had happened since the last thing she remembered.

Ben's kiss against her lips was the last thing she had remembered, and his promise for a second one.

Then waking up in the destruction. Everything changed from what she remembered, the destruction around her, the shift in her friends, their fear only fueling the dark magic within her as she waited for whatever threatened to come through the door.

The door burst open, showering the already destroyed ballroom with more debris and Mal looked toward the door to see a group of people she recognized, even in their dirty bruised states. It only made her rage burn hotter. In an instant she knew what had happened, what had changed everything. Her classmates and their parents were under faerie lust, and she had a feeling she knew exactly who was behind it all.

"What the hell happened?!" Mal shouted at all of them, her fellow VKs and Doug, as they ran into the crowd before she did.

Luckily she recognized only a few of them, most of them subjects of the kingdom, but not her classmates and the heroes and heroines that she knew by name. Still, they were people, and subjects of the kingdom and she knew how violence made Ben feel.

How he had _felt_. He could no longer feel if he was-

Her rage continued to build as she thought about Ben and pulled the knife from the holster under her skirts. Her eyes remained dry as she ran straight into the fray and joined her fellow VKs and Doug as they fought back the mob as they forced their way into the ballroom. She didn't care if she was the one they were after, full faerie- horns and all- or not. Her fury could not be quelled by simply talking it out. She had no idea who had done it, whose hands had taken the life from Ben's perfect body, but she wanted revenge on all of them.

"We have to get out of here!" Doug shouted, as waves and waves just kept coming, no matter how much fight they put into holding them back. "We got Mal, so let's move!" He continued, whacking another teenage boy, already bloody and bruised with the butt of his crossbow. He kept trying to be merciful, Mal realized, they all were, and that was getting them nowhere.

The mention of her name only made them more frenzied it seemed and she fought back harder against them, forcing her fists into their faces and her knife across whatever bits of skin and clothing she could, firing her magic whenever she could and reveling in the destruction just she had caused. She didn't care that they were people she knew, or had heard about. She didn't know where they were going, or what they were fighting for, she just wanted to fight, hide away from her emotions for as long as she could.

She shrieked as a pair of arms wrapped around her and hefted her up into the air, pulling her from her anger momentarily and from the rest of the crowd. It didn't take a genius to figure out that the only one who would dare lift her, the only one who had the strength to lift her was Jay.

"Jay!" She shouted, her voice as calm as possible, the cool brand of anger "Put me down!" There was no way she was going to sit in the corner while the rest of them fought off the hoard. "I am fine and I can fight." She didn't want to try and say more than that, for fear that her voice would break and that they would know how not fine she really was.

She didn't want to think about the future without him, whether years down the road, or five minutes after the fighting was to end. Life without Ben wasn't worth living, and she half hoped to die fighting back the hoard.

Jay chuckled darkly as he chucked her over his shoulder, still kicking and fighting. "We're not fighting anymore," He told her, holding her tight. "The name of the game is escape," He continued as he and the rest of them ran for the cellar doors, the hoard following after them.

Mal still threw magic at them as much as she was able. Nothing could quell her anger, nothing would make her go to that dark place of thinking about sad things and things that would never come to be. Escaping sounded like the cowardly thing to do, and she hated how soft the rest of them had become.

The five of them ran through the cellar doors and as soon as they did, Mal shut her eyes tight, the memories in that cellar, while not the greatest, still calling forth memories of him and all that had happened between them in the few short weeks of summer that they had had.

Jay only set her down once they were down the cellar stairs and as they stood before the shelf that turned into the secret tunnel. Evie pulled the bottle that revealed the dark passage and she could feel their eyes as they all stared at her as she kept her eyes screwed shut.

"We need you to tell us how to get out," Evie's voice came from beside her quietly as she felt a hand touch her shoulder gently.

Mal still didn't open her eyes, thinking about her past experiences with the tunnels. "There is no way out," she explained, trying not to lose her mind in the memories of the boy that no longer existed. "Years ago, Gaston destroyed the tunnel out," she said. "The only tunnels that still work are the ones further into the castle." Not that she cared, it would be a perfect excuse for more fighting.

A suicide mission. One last hurrah.

She was sure they were all debating the next course of action from there. All wondering whether they should try and fight their way out deeper into the castle or risk the destroyed tunnel, and all without words. Not that she cared, she knew either way it would be a suicide mission if the rest of the castle was lined with the horde of zombified subjects and the rest of them refused to do any real damage.

"What do we do?" Carlos asked, somewhere close by.

"I'm up for bashing in more skulls," Jay spoke and Mal remembered why they had been so close on the island. She was up for it too.

The waiting was agony. Everything was agony.

"Jay, Carlos," Evie started, her voice authoritative and strong, though Mal knew she was scared shitless like the rest of them. "Check the tunnel out. See if there is any way we can get out that way." Mal hadn't actually seen it herself, but she hoped they would have to fight their way out, that she would burn out all of her magic, and die with a smile on her face, the screams of agony and pain in her ears.

"Doug, guard the door," Evie continued, taking Mal's hand and pulling her over toward the large casks of wine and sitting her down. Then she felt the younger girl sit close to her too, her once gentle hand on her shoulder, rubbing small circles.

As Evie sat next to her, rubbing small circles against her arm and shoulder, Mal began to feel something. She kept her eyes closed tight and tried not to think about Ben or anything too close to Ben.

Stealing from the vendors on the isle, kicking lame animals, the look on others faces when they knew she was truly evil.

Ben's face when he had told her he knew she was good. His cute little smile as she had called him every terrible nickname she could think of. His moan as she had teased him with her fingers. Every moment she had spent with Ben peeking through her defenses all at once.

She took a ragged breath as she felt her closed eyes begin to moisten, her throat tightening up in preparation for tears and she hated herself for that. Instead of showing weakness, she decided to push her anger forward instead.

"What the hell happened?" She growled, the tears making her sound more angry, more hurt and that worked in her favor. "One minute we were happy and now this," She grumbled.

She heard Evie take a deep breath beside her and she didn't have to see her to know she was debating just what to tell her.

"Tell me the truth, Evie," She continued, making the choice for her.

"What's the last thing you remember?" Evie asked her.

"Ben and I kissed," Mal answered, trying to remember to keep breathing as the thought of Ben punched a hole in her chest. "He promised me another and then-" she took a slow breath to try and prevent a ragged one from peeking out again.

Evie wrapped her arms around her. "You gave him that second kiss," She explained sadly, "And then you fell into a sleep like death."

"How long?" Mal asked, instantly frightened that she had been in a sleep like death for a thousand years. When Evie continued to be silent, Mal asked again. "How long?!"

"A year and a half," Doug answered from across the room when Evie didn't speak up.

Mal's eyes popped open. "A year and a-" she couldn't even continue out of shock. What had happened since she had fallen into the coma? Evie took a deep breath in nervousness and Mal knew there was more. "There's more?" She asked, and then she realized there had to be more. "What happened to Ben?" She asked, wanting to know rather than not.

Even Evie heaved a sob at that point. More tears streaming down her dirt streaked face and Mal found herself trying to keep her own emotions in. "After your kiss, he- he-" then she broke into further sobs and became completely hysteric.

It must have been pretty bad if Evie had become hysterical. Even Doug stayed tight lipped. Mal tried to keep her emotions in check, deep breaths that kept her grounded. What had happened to Ben?

The loud screech of the secret passage opening pulled her attention away from Evie and her attempt to explain to see Jay and Carlos covered in spiderwebs and dust.

"The passage is clear," Jay explained, with a triumphant smile, the sweat nearly pouring down his forehead.

"But it's hordes and hordes of kingdom subjects as far as we can see all over the grounds," Carlos continued.

It would be a fight either way.

She knew she could ask a million questions, about Ben, or what had happened in the close to two years that she had been out, but then a realization hit her.

"I need the spellbook," She said, looking at each of them for a few seconds. She knew how dangerous it could be, especially with the kingdom subjects seemingly permanently under faerie lust.

She wasn't about to tell them why. She didn't even trust the reason herself, but she had to try something.

If someone had brought all of the villains back to life just to shove them on the island to suffer, then she could bring back the king, no matter how selfish her motives.

She could see that Evie wanted to argue, and the others probably did too. To risk everything for a spell book that might not even hold the answers was ridiculous, but she had to try.

"Take Jay with you," Evie reasoned. "We'll wait for you at the mouth of the tunnel," She explained as she pulled Mal closer. "You have twenty minutes," She explained as they all walked into the tunnel entrance.

Then they went their separate ways.

Walking through the tunnels again was difficult, but Mal kept a calm face, her thoughts racing, her heart beating hard in her ears as she tried to navigate her way through the tunnels that all looked the same.

She was not about to admit that she didn't know where she was going. Ben had led her through them so confidently, and she had only been paying attention to him, like a lovesick sap.

"You have no idea where you're going, do you?" Jay asked, holding the lantern high and casting long shadows in front of them.

"Is it that obvious?" Mal answered with a small smile, thankful for Jay and his inability to do anything gently. Evie was wonderful, but there were times that she just wanted brutal honesty rather than gentleness.

"We've passed the dead rat carcass back there twice," Jay answered, standing beside her and gripping her shoulder and shaking her less than gently. "But I get that you're distracted," He continued, walking forward and taking the lead instead.

"A year and a half is a long time," Mal answered, hoping maybe she could get more answers out of Jay than Evie. "What did I miss?" She asked, knowing he would be brutally honest, even if it hurt her. "Besides my mother taking over," It didn't take a genius to figure that out.

So they hadn't broken the promise at all, and her promise of the kingdom over her dead body had backfired onto him it seemed.

"That's pretty much it," Jay answered turning back to look at her with his typical snarky smile. "Your mom took over, the kingdom went to shit, and everyone is on the hunt for us, the few that didn't fall under the influence of faerie lust, because we're trying to save you," He explained, choosing to leave Ben out.

Mal took a deep breath to steady herself. So much for brutal honesty. She needed to know, even if no one wanted to tell her. "What happened to Ben?" She asked, pulling Jay back before he could get any further to lead them out of the tunnels and into the castle itself and she missed another opportunity to find out.

Jay sighed. "Your kiss did something to him," He explained, which was a little more than Evie had given her.

"Something?" She continued. Had she killed him or not? Would they have her head once the balance of the kingdom was restored, or would it just be a tragic loss that no one would really want to explain.

"I shouldn't be the one to tell you," Jay answered. "I shouldn't have said anything earlier either," He continued sheepishly, not Jay like at all, then he pushed them through the opening in the tunnel and they found themselves out in the hallway near the kitchens.

Not where Mal expected them to be, but it would work. She couldn't help but think about the castle staff and how they had all come out of the whole ordeal with her mother. She hadn't been able to see Charlie open her gift. She hadn't been able to see and experience the summer solstice celebrations. She wondered how many other people she had come to care for had died at her mother's hand.

From there, Mal knew where she needed to be. She remembered exactly where she had left her spell book before she left on the last date she had had with Ben and exactly how to get there without being detected. That is if things had been left exactly the same for the year and a half that she had missed.

She highly doubted that.

She tried to remain calm and level headed as she crept across the expansive foyer and toward the stairs that led up to what had been her room. What would she do if she couldn't find it?

Not finding it was not an option. She felt her magic surge through her, almost as if it was reminding her it was there, a tool to help her find what she wanted, what she needed.

"Driest earth and ocean swells, help me find the book of spells," She whispered under her breath as she climbed the stairs in the seemingly abandoned castle. The only sign of life was Jay behind her.

As soon as she spoke the words, and cast the spell, she could feel the pull of something up the stairs. Perhaps her spellbook hadn't been moved at all and the castle had been somehow frozen in the exact same state as the day that she had kissed Ben.

Up the stairs, and down the hall, almost to her door, the spellbook pulled her. Except instead of the room that had been hers, it led her to Audrey's, and more specifically her bedside table.

Mal tried not to think about it too much. It had been Jane that had worked with her mother, whether accidental or not. Audrey had her motives, and a simple prank of stealing her spell book wasn't the worst she could do. It was nearly two years earlier anyway, Mal realized as she brushed her longer hair from her face and yanked open the bedside table drawer.

Her spellbook wasn't there. What was there was a huge pile of illustrations and sketches and little love notes from Ben himself, all addressed to her.

All little promises cemented on paper. Ones that could never come true.

Mal felt a sob crawl up from her throat and she did nothing to stop it. She had tried to hold it back for too long and it all bubbled forth at once, making her a sobbing mess. Ben was dead and she was the cause.

If she hadn't love spelled him-

She wiped the tears from her face and shoved the pile of drawings and sketches under her arm. It wasn't her spellbook, but it was a valuable find nonetheless. The promises of a dead man had to be an ingredient in some spell or another, right?

She steeled her emotions away and looked toward Jay, who seemed as uncomfortable with her little emotional breakdown as she was. That was why they had grown so close on the isle.

"Wrong room," She said as she turned to search her room, and she knew he wasn't about to argue with her. "Help me find the book of spells," She repeated as she left Audrey's room and made the distance to her room, Jay not too far behind her.

She reached for the doorknob and then froze. The last time she had done that she had been clobbered and locked up and all hell had nearly broken loose. The last time she had been distracted and giddy.

She turned the handle and entered anyway. Let anything try and scare her or overpower her after the shocks that she had had. She was not afraid to dish out death if she needed to.

Her room was about the same as she had left it. The bed unmade, the books from the library lining nearly every flat surface in an attempt to break the kiss promise. Her spell book should have been between the mattress and the headboard, if no one had disturbed the area.

Mal reached between the mattress and the headboard and sure enough her spellbook was there, untouched for several long months. As soon as she touched it, the magic potential surged through her and she almost felt like it was home.

"Let's get out of here," She told Jay, moving toward the door, ready to get out of there, though she realized she had no idea where they were going.

She opened the door to reveal Maleficent herself standing there, tall and slim, her human form restored. Her face calm, no trace of any disappointment, or anger. Just calm.

Mal's mind raced. She knew exactly what calm meant. It meant her mother was plotting revenge, or in Mal's case, most likely punishment.

"Daughter, what a surprise to see you here. The horns and green skin suits you," Maleficent spoke, and Mal felt a shiver run up her spine, her legs frozen where she stood. "I had hoped to clean up the place before you woke, but a Queen's work is never done."

Mal attempted to swallow her fear. She knew Jay was behind her and witnessing her fear and her apprehension in the presence of her mother. Her nightmares usually started innocent like that, then became so much worse.

"I suppose I should thank you," Maleficent continued, brushing one of her fingers across Mal's cheek gently, sending a chill throughout her skin. It was a strange situation indeed. "You got rid of the pup and gained me the kingdom despite everything."

The mention of Ben brought back some of the fire in her blood, but her mother held her there simply with her presence.

"Mal!" Jay called from behind her, but she dared not look back. If he kept his mouth shut, and didn't interfere, he might be able to survive. Otherwise, her mother could curse him with several things that could be considered worse than death.

Maleficent's eyes moved to Jay and Mal knew almost exactly what she was thinking. "I suppose I should give you more of your name for the events that led to my rule," She spoke, her eyes still trained on Jay then returning to her, the characteristic green glow in her eyes, "If you kill the thief, I will give you more."

Mal felt her eyes glowing the same green. It was the same position they had been in when she had last seen her mother as human. "I won't do it," Mal answered, finally finding her voice. "I don't want to be you, Mother!"

Maleficent tsk tsked a few times shaking her head. "I had promised the pup that I would spare you, but you're making me angry, and you know how I get when I get angry."

She gripped Mal's arm hard and the touch was like ice flowing through her veins. Mal yanked her arm out hard, knowing exactly what was to come. On the isle, with no magic, it had been a blow, but with magic and her mother's anger only rising, she had a feeling magic would be involved.

She knew better than to face her mother in a magic battle.

"I don't want to be you!" Mal repeated, building up a defense spell in her free hand, knowing full well she might need it for either herself or Jay, or both. "Even though you took Ben from me and took over everything, I will never ever join you in world domination."

Maleficent just cackled coolly. "I did as he asked," Maleficent answered with a wicked smile. "He said nothing about saving himself, only you. A lot of good it did you since your life ends tonight."

Mal knew the blow was coming almost before it came and blocked it the best she could, sparks flying as the two spells collided. She didn't have to know what the spell was that had come from her mother, she just knew it was dangerous.

She prepared another defensive spell as soon as her first one had been released. She knew her mother would stick to her word and not give up until she killed her, or worse.

She could let her mother kill her, especially with Ben being gone, but the thought of her mother ruling over all of Auradon and causing so much destruction when she could do something to stop her spurned her on. She wanted revenge for Ben.

"Mal!" Jay shouted as she blocked another dark spell from her mother, the spellbook held tight to her chest. "We need to get out of here!"

"Kinda busy here, Jay!" Mal shouted back, holding her mother off the best she could, keeping another spell at bay before his arms scooped her up again and darted for the window.

They crashed through the glass rather than doing the civilized thing of opening the window, but the castle was already in ruins so Mal didn't feel too bad. Ben would enjoy fixing up the old place when-

Ben...

The ground met them sooner than Mal expected, pulling her from her thoughts, the urgency of the situation once again returning to the forefront of her mind.

"You good?" Jay asked as they both hopped up from the icy ground and turned their attention up to the window where magic could chase them at anytime.

"Yeah," Mal answered, her eyes focused on the window they had just lept from. He had taken the brunt of their fall anyway, the soft snow absorbing the rest of their weight. Physically she was fine, emotionally not so much.

Then he pulled her with him in a sprint as her mother appeared at the window, her stare boring a hole into Mal, unable to look away until they disappeared into the trees.


	2. Chapter 2

"Mal!" Belle exclaimed as soon as they entered the clearing and the small house came into view. The older woman ran up to her and pulled her into a tight embrace and Mal tensed up in her arms. King Adam followed right behind her, scooping them both up into his strong arms and Mal really tensed up.

That was a complete change from the last time they had interacted. They had hated her, they should still hate her for hurting and killing their son.

Something was wrong.

She began to relax after they set her down, not only were embraces like that strange for her, but from Ben's parents it was that much more awkward. Even her fellow VKs looked about as awkward as she felt at their overt display of affection.

She brushed her long hair out of her eyes. It was much longer than she had ever let it grow out before and she made a mental note to cut it off as soon as possible. She had more imminent concerns than her own hair, though Evie had yet to mention anything about it, so Mal figured it didn't look too terrible.

She wondered what Ben's reaction would have been, then she shooed the ghost of him from her mind.

"We were so scared that they would never find you," Belle continued after a few seconds of fawning over her hair and her dress, caressing her cheek gently, as if to reassure herself that Mal was really before her after a year and a half. "You must be starving!" She realized.

She pulled her toward the small house that looked to have been erected with whatever objects they had found. Mal distinctly noticed what had once been the royal staircase railing as the support beam of the roof and a few of the distinct redwood chair seats had become shingles. They had used what they could salvage, like the isle. She wondered what the inside looked like.

The inside wasn't much better. It looked like a huge disorganized mess, with items littering the floor and the walls and just the smell of dirt. Though it was bigger than she expected, and she knew it was magic. From the outside, it looked like a simple one room shack, inside it was like a barrack, bed rolls lining both sides and even a small kitchen at the opposite end. A second story behind stained glass rescued from the castle, where Mal figured Belle and Adam lived. Mal had no doubt it was protected by several defensive spells and protection enchantments. Anyone unwanted probably couldn't find it.

And yet his parents had let her and the fellow VKs in.

What had she missed in the past year and a half?

Belle didn't speak again until she had sat Mal in a little chair and handed her a slice of stale bread speckled with spots of white mold. "It's not much," Belle lamented, "but we work with what we can salvage."

Exactly like the isle.

Former King Adam had followed them and he stood behind his wife defensively and they both watched as she picked at the bread for several minutes. She wasn't really that hungry.

She wasn't really much of anything.

It all seemed like a nightmare, one that she hoped she would wake up from wrapped up in Ben's arms in his grandfather's little house. But everything was real, and she knew that, the intense pain in her chest the only thing keeping her grounded.

After several awkward moments of silence, Mal finally spoke. "I'm sorry," She said quietly, not looking at either of them, she didn't know what else to say. It was her fault about Ben, wasn't it? "If I hadn't-"

Belle sat down next to her and wrapped her arms around her and Mal found the words getting caught in her throat, her vision blurring as she tried to blink the tears away. She wished everyone would just stop being so damn nice.

It was her fault, wasn't it?

"If I hadn't kissed him, he wouldn't be-" again, she couldn't continue, her eyes focused on the speckled mold on the bread before her through her blurred vision.

Former King Adam sat on the other side of her, wrapping his arms around her too. "A beast," He finished for her, and she turned her attention to him violently, no doubt smacking Belle with her hair. That was not what she had been expecting to hear.

"A beast?" Mal asked slowly, staring at Ben's father, the foremost expert on being a beastly creature. She couldn't help the smile that crept to her face, and the warmth that ignited in her chest. "He's not dead?" She asked.

"That we don't know," Belle lamented, her voice soft. "No one has seen him for several months," She spoke with care, thinking of her only son, and Mal couldn't blame her.

"A beast?!" Mal asked again, not sure how to process the information. It was not the news she was expecting. "My kiss turned him into a beast?" She continued, damning her mother once again.

Ben's parents looked to each other with frightened looks and Mal knew there was something they weren't telling her.

"He didn't tell you?" Adam asked, but Mal knew he was apprehensive about something, a secret of some kind that he and his wife weren't sure they should tell.

"Tell me what?" Mal asked, moving out of their grasp to watch both of them equally. It was a lot to process for just waking up from a long coma a few hours earlier.

"Ben is under a terrible curse," Belle admitted and Adam looked to her with a pained look. "He was born a beast," She revealed and Mal tried to stay level headed.

Being a beast was better than being dead.

"Leftover magic from your curse?" Mal asked, looking to the former king, and wondering just how far curses traveled down in a family line. She knew that wasn't it. "My mother cursed another child?" She asked, wondering just how she could have done it from the isle with a three month old strapped to her chest.

"We did," Belle admitted quietly and Mal looked to her, her jaw hanging open. "We cursed him to be this beast!" Mal could see the tears streaming down her cheeks and her husband's uncomfortableness in the whole conversation.

"What did you do?" Mal asked, feeling the angry revenge magic course through her veins and end in her fingertips. What kind of parents would curse their own child, besides villains?

Belle fell into indecipherable sobs and Adam closed the distance between them wrapping his protective arms around her tightly as she sobbed. "You understand how the succession of kings works?" He asked her as he rocked his hysterical wife.

Mal nodded. "You set it up so as long as there is a male heir, the kingdom stays under the Adamson rule." She remembered her discussions with Ben on the topic and her disgust at the barbaric nature of it all. "If not, it becomes an election once the eldest heirs of the next generation reach sixteen." She wondered just what that had to do with the curse over Ben.

Adam nodded. "As king and queen we were given every option to ensure a healthy and well cared for pregnancy," He explained. "Weekly appointments to make sure everything was progressing as desired, the best doctors, healers and technology to ensure the best outcome." Mal expected nothing less of the royalty. Nothing like the isle. "At sixteen weeks, at the ultrasound, we had the option to find out the gender of our child," He revealed, finding it harder to get the words out, still she hung on his every word. "Belle didn't want to," He explained.

"I wanted it to be a surprise," she answered, her voice dripping with tears. "Like generations of my family before had," She continued.

"I pushed, and we found we were to have a girl," Adam revealed and Mal felt her magic surge hotter.

They didn't have a daughter, so what had happened to that baby? Had they-

Mal screwed her eyes tight, forcing her magic back under her skin and forcing herself to look at them, the disgusting royals that had everything their way, no matter what life it cost.

"So your reward for conceiving a son after the daughter you gave up was that he would be a beast?" She asked, finding herself thinking that wasn't punishment enough for their crimes against the innocent.

Adam shook his head. "I wanted a son," He admitted, "So I tracked down the fairy that had cursed me and begged her, pleaded with her, promised every earthly possession that I possessed to give me a son."

Mal knew that hadn't have gone well. The fairy that had cursed him was not one to mess with willingly. She was a legend on the Isle even. But his desires had outweighed his fear it seemed.

"She brewed a potion, warning me there would be consequences for my vanity and my desires, but I didn't listen. The next morning, I poured it into Belle's juice at breakfast, without her knowing," Adam admitted. "The next week at the next ultrasound, the tech said she was mistaken and that we were having a boy."

Mal stared at both of them disgusted. She wasn't sure what was worse, giving up on their daughter by aborting the pregnancy, or turning her into a little boy against her will. She could feel herself shaking down to the very core.

"You cursed an unborn child?!" She shouted back at them, keeping her fists balled tight, holding the angry magic in though she wanted to release it and exact her revenge. "Just because she didn't possess the correct genitals to rule the kingdom?!"

She wanted to pace, but she kept her eyes on them, their fear evident as the little bits of magic leaked out and shattered a few of the salvaged ceramic dishes and jostled the rusted pots and pans hanging above them. "That is lower than anything a villain has ever done," She continued quietly. "You cursed your own child!" She realized disgustedly, not even trying to hide her shock.

"Yes," Adam answered roughly, standing up, and moving closer to her "And we suffered for it. I can't tell you how many nights it has kept me awake, but I have to deal with my actions."

She took a step closer to him, not scared of the foot or more he had over her. "And what about Ben?" Mal asked. "Did you ever consider the effects of your actions on him?" She growled.

She already knew the answer.

"Of course not. You just magicked him again to make sure he didn't stay a beast," Mal continued, knowing exactly how their royal minds worked, they wouldn't risk it, though they were the governing rulers and could make that choice. "Because no one would accept a true beast as a king would they?" She challenged.

"Yes! We had to!" Belle exclaimed from where she sat, her shame written all over her face. "We couldn't raise a beast," She shouted through her tears. "We couldn't subject him to that ridicule," She continued.

Then reality hit Mal. She had used their first kiss to break any spells that were on him. She had broken the spell that had kept him human with her second kiss.

Ben had to have known that would happen, right?

"What were the consequences of Ben being human?" Mal asked. "What did you have to give up to ensure that he could become human?" Every spell had to have a sacrifice and knowing them and their actions, she knew it had to be something huge.

"The chance to see our grandchildren grow up," Adam answered, "A fiftieth wedding anniversary, and growing old together," He admitted, gripping his wife tight. "For the amount of years of a human life until he turned eighteen."

A just trade for years of Ben's life as a human. Years of living given so he could be a human boy rather than an animal. She wished she could say that they deserved it, but she was grateful for that, as vain as it made her feel.

"You're not really happy to see me," She realized as she looked from Belle to her husband and back. "You want me to turn Ben back into a human, extend the time that you lost," She realized. She could see on their faces there was more. "You're not telling me everything."

"The magician who turned Ben human," Belle continued, "provided us with a provision."

"My mother?" Mal asked, wondering just how many royals she had spelled. Though that didn't seem like her mother's style at all.

"No," Adam answered. "She was the first one we went to. We promised her, and you, a reprieve, life in Auradon, if she helped, but she still refused," He admitted.

Mal could only imagine her mother's reaction. Most likely similar to her own.

"She laughed at us as the two of you played in her little shack," Belle explained, her words bitter. "Yelled at us and told us we deserved what we got for what we did to our son. Even you shared in your mother's ire and whacked him with your rattle. He still has the scar," Belle smiled slightly at that, then seemed to remember the situation. "We cursed her to remain on the isle no matter what."

"Who then?" Mal asked, trying not to think about the scar she had seen on Ben, and the cute not a date date when he had told her about it.

"Madame Mim," Adam answered. "She promised us that if he could find true love before he turned eighteen, he could stay human."

That disgusted Mal. Though that was the standard spell breaker though, love and true love's kiss and all that disgustingly mushy shit. She had had enough of broken promises.

"Well I kissed him and look what happened," Mal answered in anger. "I wasn't strong enough to keep him human," She grumbled, forced to face her own failures, keeping her cheeks dry by choosing the angry option. "What more can I do?"

Belle moved closer to her desperately, practically clinging to her skirts as she fell to her knees before her. "Everyone else has failed!" She cried out as the tears streamed down her cheeks, "Please, I just want my little boy back!" She pleaded and even Adam looked like he was about to break too.

Mal realized as she watched the tears stream down Belle's face that she could truly be evil. They had already done so many evil things to their son, what made them deserve the kingdom if her mother was ever defeated? She wasn't about to rule with her mother, but she could rule herself and change the terrible things in Auradon to the way she wanted them.

"I will do this for you," She spoke, channeling the coolness of her mother and looking from Belle's distraught face to her husband's, seemingly set in stone. "But if I cannot bring back your son, the true king of Auradon. I want the kingdom."

She hadn't wanted it before, with Ben as king, but if he remained a beast, if she was unable to break his curse, she wanted assurance that things would be run the right way.

Honestly, she didn't hold onto any hope that she could do it. If her own kiss had reverted him, what chance did she have that love would save him? She didn't know a single thing about love, he was the one who was supposed to teach her and that had not gone well.

By her calculations, if it had truly been a year and a half, all she had to do was wait a few more months then take her kingdom after Ben turned eighteen and remained a beast forever.

"Promise me," She commanded, her face stone, her eyes glowing the violent green with her magic. She wasn't about to risk her life in the forest for nothing. She wasn't about to build up hope that she could save Ben either.

"I promise you the kingdom if Ben cannot resume the crown," Adam answered a little too quickly and then Belle repeated it, desperation not looking good on either of them.

Mal looked at them with pity, a sudden sadness creeping in with her anger. "How much does Ben know?" She asked.

"He just knows he was born a beast," Adam admitted. "He knows nothing of the circumstances before his birth."

"He will," Mal answered back, almost a promise in itself. "What he chooses to do with that information is up to him," She continued, before she pushed Belle's hands from her skirts and picked up her spellbook, leaving them with their shame.

Evie caught Mal as she left the shack, pulling her toward the circle of seats around the firepit, the fire burning brightly in the night.

"Come on," she told her, taking her hand and pulling her gently before plopping her down next to Jay and Carlos and with some of her other classmates from Auradon Prep.

Most of them were changed, like her fellow VKs. Hardened by the years of her mother's rule and their losses, she supposed, but as they sat around the fire, laughing and joking, things almost seemed normal. Only Ben wasn't among them.

Because he was roaming the forest as a beast.

As soon as Lonnie saw them sit, she smiled. Mal tried her best to smile a neutral smile, her mind racing with all of the possibilities.

All she had learned.

All she still didn't know about the last year and a few months.

How she could find a way to save Ben before it was too late.

If she even wanted to save Ben.

"Everyone," Evie said, looking around to each of them, including her, "It's someone's birthday." Everyone else turned their eyes to her and she did a quick count of the days.

If it had been a year and a half, as Evie and Jay had told her, that would put them in December. The snow on the ground told her that much.

Could it really be her eighteenth birthday?

That meant Ben's was in less than three months. Three months or less to show him that she loved him, if she even did.

She had never known love, so how could she save him by showing him true love? True love's kiss had already failed.

"Since Mal has recently joined us," Evie continued, all eyes on her as she spoke, "I think for birthday presents we should all tell her something that has happened since the day Maleficent took over."

No one really seemed to be in disagreement. So they all went around several times, telling her all about her mother's regime and how things had changed, though no one really mentioned Ben until Evie.

Mal learned that her mother had taken over rather quickly, imprisoning everyone she could catch, turning others into animals, and even murdering a few. She had broken the barrier around the isle and her fellow villains and their children were now in Auradon, most of them doing her bidding, even more of them out for their own gain, taking over several of the smaller castles.

Her mother had turned those she was able to imprison into her slaves, under a spell like faerie lust, out to find anyone who mentioned certain names. In retaliation, Fairy Godmother, with the help of Belle and Adam, had created the safe haven that they currently resided in. A safe place for anyone not under Maleficent's thumb, where they couldn't be sensed at all.

As long as they stayed in the circle of the tallest trees, they could not be harmed.

Those who were still willing and able had formed salvaging parties, risking their lives and going out to find food and supplies in the neighboring provinces and even the castle, if they were bold enough.

Evie, Doug and Carlos and Jay were one of those parties and they had been personally sent out to save her from Maleficent's clutches.

When it circled back to Evie for the third time, she finally mentioned Ben. The subject everyone else had been avoiding.

"Right after your second kiss," Evie started, looking right at Mal, choosing her words carefully, "When you fell into the deathlike sleep and Ben began to transform, he tried to catch you and protect you from your mother," She explained. "But instead of protecting you, he hurt you." She pointed to lines of scars on her arm. "He didn't realize that his hands had become claws. Your mother chastised him and convinced him you were dead, banishing him into the forest if he valued his life. We've been trying to find him for months, and now that you're back, we might actually stand a chance," She admitted and Mal just stared for several seconds before Evie pulled her attention back to the roaring fire. "Who's next?" She asked.

Was she really everyone's last hope?


	3. Chapter 3

She couldn't sleep, but then again, who could after such a long time in a coma? Everyone else had gone to bed, but Mal had stayed by the dying fire, her thoughts being pulled in several directions.

The entirety of Auradon and the seven kingdoms under her mother's rule and what it would take to get rid of her.

All of the losses and the terrible things her mother had done.

Ben. Everything about Ben.

She stood up quickly. Sitting around and thinking wasn't the way to solve anything. Action was what solved things. So she gathered up her spellbook and her wits and walked out toward the barrier trees that someone had mentioned.

She took a deep breath, then stepped out.

The forest itself didn't feel any different, the trees were the same, the wildlife of the night still croaking, hooting, and howling, but the feeling in the air was completely changed. There was a weight, a heaviness, a kind of fear as she stepped into the true forest.

She had been flipping through the spellbook, trying to find a solution to any of the several problems she faced, only to find that she was missing several ingredients that could be useful, especially if she was trying to magic Ben rather than true love.

She didn't have true love. She did have magic.

Perhaps she could manufacture feelings, like she had when she had love spelled him.

The love spell…

The one that had caused all of their problems in the first place, and all because her mother had wanted Fairy Godmother's wand.

She felt a little uneasy, but if it had worked once, it could work again, right?

She just needed a few things from the forest and a few ingredients from the kitchen.

She could do it, if she really wanted to. Though she wasn't quite sure. She wanted to make Belle and Adam suffer for as long as she could.

She leaned down to examine the leaves of a flowering plant in the darkness. It looked like Augustofolia, and was probably in the same family, but it wasn't what she needed.

A shadow moving through the trees made her jump up, the familiar breaking of branches under foot or hoof made her pull the knife from the holster under her skirt.

"Who's there?" She called out, knowing that was probably the stupidest thing she could do. It wasn't like the animals could answer back anyway.

"Jumpy much?" Audrey's voice came from behind her and Mal turned to see her in the dim moonlight, the jagged scar across her cheek not looking much better than it had around the firepit, though thicker and deeper up close.

"What are you doing here?" Mal asked her, not exactly sure where they stood after, well, everything. She loosened her grip on the knife, but didn't let her guard down.

Audrey looked up at the few stars visible through the general haze that had settled over everything it seemed. "Through the barrier that Fairy Godmother set up it's so hard to see the stars," She admitted, "Though the permanent fog isn't much better," She continued, looking to Mal again.

Mal just looked at her, and tried not to focus on the jagged scar that marred her face. "You're following me," Mal realized.

Audrey shrugged. "It was a night like this when Ben told me," She admitted, pulling her jacket tighter around her, the chill probably aching through her bones. "Cold and snowy, but the moon was nearly full and the stars were bright."

Mal scoffed. Of course Audrey had to know and of course Ben had told her personally. "That must have been a fun conversation," She answered sarcastically.

Audrey smiled a small smile. "I accused him of trying to get rid of me," She said, "I thought he was joking, trying to break up with me because he realized we were better as just friends." She looked straight ahead into the trees. "When he assured me he was telling the truth, I nearly bolted anyway."

Mal watched her as her face changed into something softer, a softness that she had never really seen from her before. "It's a heavy burden, to be chosen to break a spell with true love," She said, "Every action chosen, hoping that he will fall more in love with you, and that maybe when he does, you will too. Every choice not your own, but whatever is best for him." Mal watched her lips pursed and then straightened out. "I guess it's a relief when he chooses someone else, because then you don't have to feel like such a heavy weight is hanging over you all the time. You don't have to feel like such a failure."

Mal swallowed hard. She had had no idea Audrey had ever felt that way. She had only heard Ben's side of things, and she hadn't had the knowledge she had at that moment. She had thought it was just the royal tradition of arranged marriage.

"In case you forgot," Mal started, not able to help the small smile that crept to her lips, "My kiss turned him into the beast," She reminded her, "As far as failure goes, that's pretty huge," She continued with a short laugh.

Audrey laughed too. "I tried to chase after him into the forest right after," She admitted, "I thought that I loved him, but he lashed out instead." She sighed as she ran her fingers over the raised scar on her cheek. "I can't blame him though," She continued. "We all thought you were dead too." Mal took a deep breath, her eyes moving from Audrey's scar to the moon behind the clouds. "He just let out this terrible howl that nearly sounded like a sob and I still can't get it out of my head."

Mal closed her eyes, the thought of Ben in pain tearing at her insides. "Any advice on how to love?" Mal asked her sarcastically. Audrey was the last one she ever imagined asking. And it wasn't like she was going to use it anyway, at least not right away.

Audrey just laughed, the gentleness remaining on her face. "Peanut Butter," She said, "Whenever he and I were fighting, or I wanted something, I would bring him something with peanut butter and all would be forgiven."

Even Mal had to laugh at that. She had seen Dude with peanut butter enough times to know how hilarious that had to be, how easy it would be to distract Ben.

"Thanks Audrey," Mal answered, then she waited for her to leave. And when she didn't, she looked at her.

"What?" Audrey asked, "I really do like the stars better outside the barrier."

Mal looked up at the small gap between the clouds. Maybe Audrey was right, the stars were brighter without the fog, or the barrier.

Audrey cursed beside her, her eyes moving from the sky and the stars to the tree line. Mal looked to her for an explanation, and then she heard it through the trees.

 _It's a beast_

 _He's got fangs_

 _Razor sharp ones_

 _Massive paws_

 _Killer claws for the feast._

Mal looked to Audrey _._ She knew the song well from Gaston on the island. It was the one they used to tease him with, along with the song that bore his name, only chronicling his failures instead of his triumphs.

The voices through the trees sounded quite familiar to her. She could pick out the aged voice of the original Gaston and his sons without even having to see the crowd.

"They taunt him nightly," Audrey explained, her voice holding a sadness as she crouched down though the mob was pretty far out. "Your mother hopes that it will break him down and he will give himself up willingly, the only real threat to her rule." She felt Audrey's eyes on her, "Well besides you."

Her mother did have a knack for theatrics.

 _Hear him roar_

 _See him foam_

 _But we're not coming home_

 _'Til he's dead_

 _Good and dead_

 _Kill the Beast!_

She knew she could follow them and find Ben as easy as it would be to steal candy from a baby, but she wanted to let his parents suffer as long as possible.

Instead, she turned and re-entered the barrier. She couldn't do much work with Audrey mooning over the stars.

Things were already awkward enough after a year and a half of time lost. She didn't need them to be more awkward.

If only peanut butter could save Ben. If only it were that easy.

After a relatively sleepless night, the sun finally began to peek through the trees and Mal began to wander around the relatively small camp. No one else was really awake yet and it was kind of a cute little province of its own, with the little shack and the fire pit and the little overhangs stocked with several items that had been taken from the castle or other surrounding villages.

It almost reminded her of the bazaars on the isle, or Jafar's junk shop with all the little trinkets that had no rhyme or reason, but were considered useful despite their brokenness or inability to work.

Mal felt that way herself. She had been out of the loop for so long that she wasn't sure just who to be, or what to do.

Her mother had sent her to take the wand so she could use it to bend good and evil to her will. She had failed her mother and chosen to be good for Ben's sake, and for her own sake. She had passed Remedial Goodness with a perfect score on her final and extra credit even. She had passed all of her finals with flying colors. Then she had joined Ben at the summer castle with his parents.

She thought she had loved him, but maybe it was a different emotion than love that she was feeling.

Perhaps it was just the fear of being alone in the world after she had thrown away everything she had known since birth.

There was no way the villains on the isle would have taken her back, so she had tried to fit in Ben's world of princes and princesses and happy endings.

Belle had trained her for weeks in etiquette and dancing and everything that a princess needed to know. It was most likely in the effort to make her more princess than villain in an attempt to save Ben, she realized.

But it hadn't worked.

She had kissed Ben and he had still become a beast. She had failed to save Ben from his own curse, the curse his own parents had placed on him. That had to mean that she didn't know enough about true love.

Who else didn't know enough about true love?

Villains.

There was no one she wanted to teach her about love if she couldn't save Ben. If she couldn't have love, she would have pain.

Not her own, but others.

She jumped up in surprise as she ran into someone, her thoughts making her blind to all else. She pulled herself from her thoughts and found Fairy Godmother herself standing before her, holding her arm to steady her.

"Sorry," Mal answered, avoiding her eyes and trying to right herself so she could remove her arm from Fairy Godmother's grasp. "I-" She stumbled over the next few words, unsure exactly what to say. "I um, wasn't looking where I was going." It was the truth.

"It's perfectly alright, dear," Fairy Godmother answered gently. "I didn't expect anyone else to be up so early either," She admitted, and Mal could feel the awkwardness around them like a fog.

She avoided Fairy Godmother's eyes and focused on the litter that had formed from their collision. Between her spellbook and the Ben's drawings and love notes spilling out, and billowing away in the slight breeze, she could see several books around them. What use of books would anyone have when her mother had made the entire kingdom of Auradon and the surrounding seven kingdoms into a wasteland?

"Books?" She asked, her curiosity getting the better of her as she picked a few of them up, trying not to seem too torn up about the light sketches and the scraps of paper with Ben's scrawl floating out into the wind, most likely never to be recovered in the vast forest. She was sure she recognized some of the books from Belle's library, their titles covered in cobwebs and dust, but still recognizable from the Adamson library.

Fairy Godmother nodded as Mal handed back the few that she had picked up. "Not only is Queen Belle a voracious reader, even in the darkest of times," Fairy Godmother continued, "but the royal family has requested that we supply you with enough books to break the curse over their son." She handed the books back to Mal.

"You know?" Mal asked, catching Fairy Godmother's eyes briefly, then tracing the gold script on the top book's title, in an attempt to distract herself from the several emotions that threatened to bubble up.

"I was told when he started at Auradon Prep," Fairy Godmother admitted slowly. "As headmistress, it was my duty to ensure that Ben would have enough credits to graduate before his eighteenth birthday, should things go sour," She explained, her voice carrying a sadness that Mal could nearly feel between them. She stood and pulled Mal up with her. "Though I had hoped that it wouldn't come to that," She continued.

"Well it did," Mal answered bitterly, preferring not to think about it at all.

Fairy Godmother pulled Mal's gaze to her again with a gentle hand against her chin, and Mal wished she wouldn't. "None of this is your fault," She told her. Then she pulled her into a tight embrace and Mal felt herself more comfortable with it than she had been with Ben's parents embraces, though not completely comfortable with it.

Still, Fairy Godmother's words didn't make her feel better.

"How can it not be?" Mal asked, pushing Fairy Godmother away. She could feel her anger surge forth again. "He told me to use our first kiss to break any spell he had over him and I foolishly followed his advice," She growled, willing the angry tears to stay where they started in her eyes. "Why would he do that without telling me he was under a curse?" She asked. "Why wouldn't he tell me about any of it?" She demanded.

Fairy Godmother took her fury with a straight face. "Faith," She answered gently, once Mal had finished her rant. "He had faith that you would break it without having to know about it," She explained.

"Then he is an idiot," Mal answered back, blinking back her tears once again. "And now his parents expect me to just magic him back into a boy like it's nothing?" she continued, her anger never eased. "They're idiots too," she growled, "And worse than my mother for cursing their own son." She wasn't sure what else she could say. She didn't know how many people knew the whole truth.

"You're going to punish the child for his parents mistakes?" Fairy Godmother asked, and Mal stared at her, frozen at that thought.

Hadn't that been what his parents had done? Forced the children of the villains to remain on the isle, living in squalor for their parents mistakes, even though their only crime was being born to a villain or two.

"I understand that you're mad at them," Fairy Godmother continued. "And I'm not saying you shouldn't be, but is it really fair to torture Ben because of them?" Mal didn't want to answer, but she knew the answer. "You passed Remedial Goodness and were deemed good at your morality trial," She reminded her. "You know the answer deep in your heart," She continued as she handed Mal her spellbook, then continued on her way with books for Ben's mother.

She knew it should have made her feel better, more likely to go out and save Ben, but in all honesty, she was angry at him too.

She was punishing him too.


	4. Chapter 4

It had been several days since Mal had studied her way through the books Fairy Godmother had brought her, several times. Fairy Godmother and Belle had even set her up with a small library of sorts, though without shelves and tables or chairs, just the books that Fairy Godmother had salvaged, a lumpy pillow and a few half melted candles surrounded by what Mal could only imagine had been one of the royal sheet sets of some princess somewhere, once religiously washed, now threadbare and splattered with mud and what suspiciously looked like blood.

What a world she had woken up to. Even though it felt like the isle had, it didn't really feel like home.

Nowhere had really felt like home, she realized.

"Permission to enter, oh great Princess of Darkness?" Carlos' voice came from behind the curtain and Mal had no doubt Jay was with him too. They rarely separated if they could help it. Jay was the muscle and Carlos was the brains it seemed.

Mal took a deep breath and closed the book she had been forcing herself through. She hated when anyone called her a princess, whether it was true or not, even when Ben had done it. Now that Ben was not around to do it, it only made her feel worse.

She pulled the curtain aside roughly, the metal attachments shrieking against the pole it hung on. She could see Jay admonishing Carlos and holding his head under his arm about to give him a noogie.

"He knows better," Jay assured her. "Or he will," He continued, giving Carlos a noogie as the younger boy shrieked beneath him, struggling to get free.

"It was a joke! It was a joke!" Carlos squealed as he tried to wiggle free, but had no such luck.

"Not a very funny one," Mal answered, tossing the book aside and standing up. "Please tell me you two were about to start some mischief."

At least with them she felt more comfortable than with anyone else.

Jay released Carlos and the younger boy rubbed his head and neck gingerly. "We have a surprise for you," Jay admitted, and Mal nearly groaned, she usually hated surprises. "Though there is a little mischief and rule breaking involved," That made her perk up a little bit.

She almost smiled at the thought of mischief and rule breaking. "Where's E?" She asked, looking for their other friend. She had a suspicion where she could be, with a certain someone.

"She had other things to do," Carlos answered.

"Other things named Doug?" Mal asked, forcing a small smile onto her face, though the thought of anything involving romance or love making her sad.

"Probably," Jay continued. "They have a ton of secret spots in the forest I guess," He admitted, "And despite the current state of affairs, they always find time to sneak away."

"When can we leave?" She asked. She didn't need Evie and Doug's entire history over the past year and a half, she had seen enough during their time at Auradon Prep. She didn't care about the rules Belle and her beast of a husband had put in place to keep her in the barrier either. They couldn't just have their chance at salvation walking right out into danger, but Mal could take care of herself.

"How about now?" Jay suggested with a wayward smile. "Unless you want to keep researching how to save the beast," He continued.

Mal smirked. "What is a beast to a queen?" She shrugged, moving past the two of them confidently. She didn't like the idea of a princess, with the prissy pink connotation that came with it, but Queen, hardened heart, head on straight, ruler of the known universe… That idea was growing on her.

She was getting nowhere in her research anyway. She was still too steamed at everyone to start thinking logically yet.

"Going to take over the kingdom, are you?" Jay asked as they left the hallway and the little shack and stepped out into the bright sunlight.

"Who else could do it?" Mal asked, her smile wicked as she turned back to face them. "So where are we going?" She continued, looking from Jay to Carlos and back.

"Just promise us you'll continue to think of the little people," Jay answered, indicating to himself and Carlos before taking a few long strides past her and Carlos and leading the way.

Mal let out a short laugh. "For you," she said, pointing to Carlos, "I'm thinking royal vizier." Carlos beamed at her, instantly picking up on her teasing, "and for you," She said, catching up to Jay and putting her hand on his shoulder, gripping hard, "Royal Jester."

Jay scoffed. "Royal jester?!" He exclaimed, "I think of myself as Royal bedfellow to the queen," He said, waggling his eyebrows at her seductively.

It was Mal's turn to scoff and blush. "And what makes you think I would want you as the Royal bedfellow?" She asked as they moved toward the tree line, "If I'm going to rule with an iron fist I don't have room for softness and love," She scoffed, and even Carlos laughed.

"Come on Mal," Jay continued. "You're going to need a beard or the entire kingdom is going to think you're sad and brooding." Both he and Carlos pulled her through the barrier trees and into the forest, starting down a barely worn dirt path. "You'll need an heir eventually if you want to keep your reign," He continued.

Mal rolled her eyes. "You know, by then they'll have perfected cloning," She said, making a face at him. "And I haven't ruled out Ben yet either," She admitted, "And you never know who is listening in the forest." She raised her arms at him as if she were a monster.

Carlos laughed at them as he and Jay led her through the forest down the barely traveled path. "Anyway," Jay continued, recovering from his embarrassment or so Mal guessed. "I hope you have your sticky fingers on," He explained, "We're doing an unofficial stealth mission to the closest province," He revealed with a satisfied smile.

The closest provinces were the richest, or had been before her mother had taken over. They still could have been, though there was a chance the other villains had taken over the smaller castles and chalets.

"Great idea," Mal answered sarcastically, "When the whole kingdom is looking for us, let's go to the richest areas. We're definitely not going to be recognized."

"Ah ah ah." Jay stopped her. "There's a part two to this surprise," He explained. "Carlos," he continued, turning back to the younger boy as they continued through the forest. "Show her the thing."

Carlos pulled a pair of sunglasses from his pocket and handed them to her. "Sunglasses?" She asked him, looking to the younger boy, her eyebrows raised.

He took them back from her and slipped them over his eyes. In an instant, his features changed, the sunglasses morphing into his skin. His hair became darker and slightly longer, his face gained deep laughter lines, aging him by about thirty years.

"Magic sunglasses?" Mal asked, studying his features for any sign of magic or spell work.

"Scientific sunglasses based on magic," Carlos explained, pulling them from his face. "Based on the magic properties of shapeshifting, but using elements of the periodic table to change the aspects of one's appearance."

Mal stared at the younger boy. "You made these?" She asked him, quite impressed.

"Evie, Doug and I came up with them," Carlos admitted, "And Fairy Godmother spells them to keep them charged," He explained. "They help the salvaging parties stay safe."

"That's amazing!" Mal answered, as both he and Jay put their glasses on. Mal took her opportunity to chromosome shift, the dirty blonde hair framing her face. "So what are we stealing today?" She asked.

"Information," Jay answered, his once long dark hair replaced with a completely bald head and a long scraggly beard. "And anything you can swipe without too much suspicion," He continued when Mal stared at him nearly disappointed.

Then they continued through the forest and toward the high church spire peeking through the trees.

Stealing things, going back to basics, was what she needed.

The grating sound of the curtain against the rod pulled Mal from her current research on herbs of the forest. She looked up, half expecting to see Evie, or even Jay and Carlos, though she had left them to count their loot hours earlier. She straightened up in defense when she saw Belle and Adam standing there.

They looked disappointed, like they had back when she and Ben had disappointed them when they had detoured the day of the tour of the provinces. Belle's face pulled into a tight line, like she wasn't sure whether to be more disappointed or angry. Adam didn't seem to have that problem, his face more angry than anything else.

Mal straightened her back and kept her gaze on them. She expected anger and disappointment, though she wondered how they had found out, or just what they were disappointed about now.

"Is there something I can help you with?" Mal began, "Or can I get back to trying to save the son that you cursed?" She asked.

Belle seemed to only become more angry at her words. "We asked you not to leave the barrier," She answered, not nearly as scary as Mal's own mother when she was furious. "You deliberately disobeyed us and entered one of the provinces."

Mal didn't need a play by play of her own actions, so she returned to her book, relaxing into the pillows and flipping through a few pages.

"Do you know how dangerous that is?" Belle continued, her anger only rising. "You could have been killed, or abducted, or, or-"

Mal could see that she was trying to think of the worst possibilities, but she didn't need to. "Or joined my mother?" She asked with just the trace of a wicked smile. "You don't have to pretend you care," Mal said, looking up to both of them, "You and I both know that if I bring Ben back to you, you'll return to your efforts to run me out." She knew it was true by the way that both of his parents' faces changed.

"You disobeyed us and there will be consequences," Adam answered avoiding the subject all together. "You are not allowed to leave the barrier at all," He explained, his glasses nearly steaming up with his anger. "It has been redesigned to alarm if you even try to set one foot out." Mal half hoped that his anger would peek through and she could see a bit of the beast he had been.

"Great idea," Mal answered sarcastically. "Keep me trapped like 'Punzel. You're on your way to being a villain yourself, Beasty," She said, catching his eyes, not fearing him in the least. "And tell me, how am I supposed to help your son if I'm trapped here in the barrier. Are you going to send out hunting parties like Gaston?" She asked, then she hummed a few bars of the song that Gaston had taunted Adam with. "Bring him here? You think that will go well?"

She had heard several stories from several of the people that had gone into the forest to try and save Ben. All of them had ended in tragedy, those who attempted injured both in body and mind. To bring him to their encampment was a disaster waiting to happen.

"When you are ready," Adam growled back, "I will escort you." He wasn't too happy with the arrangement either it seemed. "Until then, if you set a foot out of the barrier, I will chain you to this wall."

Mal tried to keep her temper in check. "Fine," She answered, "Good luck saving your son if I can't find the things I need in the forest."

"You are not allowed to leave the barrier for anything!" Adam bellowed before he stormed off before his anger got the better of him.

Belle stayed and knelt before Mal. "He means well," She explained gently, not quite meeting her eyes. "We can't lose our son," She continued, "You must understand how much we love him."

She tried to reach out for Mal, but Mal pulled away.

"I don't know what love is," Mal explained, her eyes focused on the thick lines of the sketched herb on the page. Though somewhere deep down she wasn't sure how true that was.

She could see Belle tense up from the corner of her eye. That wasn't what his mother had expected to hear from his girlfriend, especially since to break the beastly spell she had to show him true love. She set a small worn Dwarves and Sons box on the floor near Mal's feet.

"Fairy Godmother instructed me to give this to you," Belle spoke before she stood. "I know you're not happy with us and our actions, but please don't torture Ben for our mistakes."

The two older ladies had been talking about her and what she had said to both of them. She knew she shouldn't have expected anything else, but instead of being angry, she turned back to her book of herbs, the one she had slipped into her skirt from the library of Facilier himself.

She didn't want any stupid trinkets to try and convince her to hurry up and save Ben. She needed time for her anger to dissipate, and it had just been jacked up again, extending the time before she could think clearly again.

Mal stayed quiet, her eyes trained on the page, the words almost morphing into something foreign as she waited for Belle to leave. "Please don't hesitate to come to me if you need anything," She said before she turned and left.

What a swift change from when they had first confronted her.

Once she was sure that Belle had moved a considerable distance, Mal slammed the book shut and stood from her little corner. She was too livid to even take the slightest of research seriously. She needed to cause some mischief, she needed to find out who had ratted her out to Ben's parents.

She nearly ran straight into a young girl as soon as she opened the door, and she was about to yell at her, make her cry, do something to make her feel evil and in control again, but something stopped her.

The little girl looked familiar somehow. Her dark eyes, and straw-colored hair catching the last few rays of the bright sun in the sky. She stared at Mal and Mal stared back.

"Watch where you're going!" The little girl shouted at her after a second of shocked silence between them. "You hurt Mr. Fluffytail!" She growled, picking up a worn fox stuffed animal and glaring at Mal.

Mal couldn't help but smile. "My apologies to Mr. Fluffytail," She answered with a short bow, the little girl a welcome sight compared to the over stressed and scared adults. "I was just a bit distracted."

The little girl, Charlie, seemed to soften. "Daddy yells at me when I pass the border too," She answered with a small smile. "But the flowers are prettier outside the border," She went on. "And Mr. Fluffytail loves flower crowns."

Mal leaned down to Charlie's level. "You like flowers?" Mal asked her, her mind whirring with the possibilities. She couldn't leave the barrier to find what she needed, but Charlie could. She would just have to convince her. "I do too," She continued, brushing the straw colored hair from Charlie's eyes, being as gentle as she could.

Charlie smiled, as if her face couldn't hold her mouth in. "There's a huge grove not too far past the barrier," She whispered, "All kinds of them with all different colors."

Mal looked around, making sure that no one else was watching, or too interested in their interaction. "If I asked you to make me a flower crown with the pretty flowers from the grove, would you do it?" She asked, looking back to Charlie with a little smile. "If I said pretty pretty pretty please with sugar and sprinkles on top?" She continued.

Charlie deliberated for less than three seconds. "Ok," She answered, "but you have to have a Tea party with me and Mr. Fluffytail," She demanded.

"Just tell me when and where," Mal answered back patting the young girl on the head before she stood.

"Tomorrow," Charlie answered, then leaned in closer. "I'll make your flower crown tonight," She whispered before she skipped away with the aged stuffed animal in her grasp.

Mal couldn't help but smile. Maybe being trapped wouldn't be so bad with a little errand girl.

Mal headed back to her little corner, knowing better than to do anything that would be considered suspicious by Belle and her beast. Mal knew enough about being undetected to know that once you start doing something out of the ordinary, that was when people thought you were up to something.

She wanted to research more from the books that she had swiped right from under Facilier's nose. He had had quite the collection of books about magic and curses, so she had stolen a few of them. Even if she couldn't save Ben, she could learn quite a bit more than her mother had ever known, She could learn the things her mother had never taught her, the little things that she had thought tedious. The little things that her spellbook had forgotten to include. Maybe it could even be useful in usurping her mother when the time came.

She would be queen someday. She might as well be knowledgeable on as much as she could be, though she hadn't been trained since birth like Ben.

Ben.

Her eyes snuck up from the page she had been doodling on and landed on the worn Dwarves and Sons box, the green quite faded and worn away to reveal the aged cardboard underneath, but still quite recognizable. She felt tears prickling to her eyes, remembering the pendant he had given her very shortly before their first and last kiss. It had been from Dwarves and Sons too, and lost in the past year and a half she guessed.

Could that be what was in the box? Had Fairy Godmother found it and was returning it to remind her where her allegiances should lie?

She stared at it for quite a while, unsure if she should open it or not. It was most likely their attempt to persuade her to try harder to save Ben, force her to choose what they wanted. She pulled her attention from it and focused on where the gold ring on her forefinger should have been, the one Ben had given her before the coronation. The one that had lived on her finger almost indefinitely since then. Then she turned her attention back to the box again.

She reached for it quickly, like it would bite her if she didn't grab it first, and tore the box open roughly. She let out a relieved sigh when the beautiful pendant from before wasn't inside. Instead, she stared at the small pocket watch inside.

The small pocket watch sat on a gold chain, the cover a stained glass design, the red rose design painted a bright red in front of a blue and gold background. It was stunning and small and perfect and Mal stared at it, the loud ticking enough to indicate that it was a watch of some kind. She pressed the button gently and the cover popped open to reveal a watch, as she had expected, with gold numbers and hands, though it didn't seem to be moving, or keeping the correct time, or even telling time at all. It was unlike any other watch she had ever seen.

It seemed to be broken.

Why get her hopes up for a piece of junk?

She knew she shouldn't be so interested, but she wanted to know the meaning behind it, so she dropped the book she had been sketching in, pulled the thin gold chain around her neck and went to find Fairy Godmother.

She found Fairy Godmother looking over the piles of junk that the salvaging parties had brought back over the last few days. From the looks of things, it was junk that she had given Mal. She must have started to go crazy over the year and a half that her mother had ruled. Barriers tended to have that effect on people, Mal realized.

"What's the meaning of this?" Mal asked her roughly once the older woman turned her attention to her and not the pile of junk from Sleeping Beauty's chalet, judging by the sheer amount of pink and blue. "A watch that doesn't work?" She asked, shoving it forward into Fairy Godmother's face. She needed to feel powerful, she needed someone to take her anger. "Is it supposed to be a shitty metaphor for how Auradon doesn't work without a king, or how time is running out?"

Fairy Godmother kept her head. "Come by my room in the main hall later tonight and I will show you," She explained. "Though only when you no longer have a temper," She continued before she turned away, returning her attention to the loot that the scavenging parties had scored.

Mal didn't want to talk to her more than necessary anyway.

Mal shook the angry magic from her fingers and hands, forcing it into a nearby bush, instantly browning the leaves and causing them to droop sadly. Only after she did that, did she knock on the door that separated Fairy Godmother from the rest of the bed rolls.

She nearly had to release more angry magic when Jane opened the door.

Jane stood there, frozen in fear, her eyes wide, the color draining from her face. "I-" she started, then tried two more times to form words. "I-" she tried again, but Mal silenced her with a simple wave of her hand.

"I'm here for you mom," Mal answered, barely even able to look at Jane. "I don't want to know anything about it," She continued. She wasn't ready to face those dark days just yet. She wanted to do so much, get revenge, but she knew Jane wasn't the one to blame.

"She should be back in a few minutes," Jane answered, still quite apprehensive. "You could wait here if you like," She continued, holding on to the door just to stay standing it seemed.

Mal brushed past her and moved to sit on one of the fancy chairs against the wall. Fairy Godmother's little attachment was nice, a bit bland, like everything else, but it at least had walls. All Mal got was a dirty sheet.

Jane shut the door and went back to what she had been doing it seemed, counting buttons, and other small trinkets, all laid out on the table missing a leg and propped up against the wall haphazardly. After that, the silence became awkward and tense.

"Ben really loves you," Jane spoke, pulling Mal from her thoughts like a passenger ejected from a car crash.

"I said I don't want to talk about it," Mal growled back, glaring at the younger girl. "I-"

"I have never felt so much love from anyone else in my life," Jane continued cutting Mal off, swallowing hard then finding her voice. "He knew I wasn't you, and yet he still was compassionate and gentle and- and-"

"Why did you do it?" Mal asked, cutting her off before she could say anything else about Ben. It was already hard enough without listening to her. "What possible reason could you have to work with my mother?" She asked, her eyes focused on Jane, hungry for answers.

Jane sighed, her eyes focused on the table and the mess of buttons and ribbons. "She duped me," She admitted. "She called me to her with a song that I thought only I could hear," She looked to Mal, "Promised me whatever I wanted, then she bippity boppity booed me into you."

Mal took a deep breath. At least she had stopped talking about Ben and making her think about her mistakes. "That song," Mal continued, then she hummed a few bars. "Is that the one?" She asked. When Jane nodded slowly, she continued. "She hypnotized you," Mal corrected, "Tapped into your magic to make you think you were me and transform yourself," She clarified, not sure if she was trying to make Jane feel better or worse.

"I'm sorry," Jane answered. "I didn't mean for anything bad to happen," She continued. "Maybe if I hadn't have-" Mal could see Jane starting to tear up. "Maybe Ben would still be here if-"

"No!" Mal shouted at her. "Shut up about Ben ok?" She growled, "I don't need everyone telling me what I already know. I get that Ben is out there and I know everyone is counting on me, but I am handling it!"

After that, Jane shut up and they sat in silence for several minutes, until Fairy Godmother returned, a little smile on her face.

"What a surprise!" Fairy Godmother spoke with a smile, turning to Mal and then Jane. "The last time you two were in the same room-"

"Tell me about the watch," Mal said, cutting her off before she got too into the events of the past. "I can hear it ticking, but it doesn't run."

Fairy Godmother just continued to smile. "Have you tried winding it?" She asked, then she beckoned Mal forward with her hand.

She took the pocket watch from around Mal's neck and pulled it closer, winding the small dial for a few turns. Then she stopped and passed it back to Mal, showing her the watch face. The dials had moved in all different directions.

"It counts down to the king's eighteenth birthday," She explained. "It will chime when the clock strikes midnight on that date," She said. "Once it does, it will be too late to save him and you will get the kingdom, as was promised to you." She seemed to tense up at that thought. "Whether you prefer to think of it as counting down to save him, or counting down to your reign is up to you, but time here can become easily distorted."

Mal looked up from the watch face and the several dials, all spinning at different rates, from fast to practically still. From what she could see, if she was reading it correctly, she had:

Two months

Twenty-Six days

Four hours.

Five minutes.

and Thirty-six seconds.


	5. Chapter 5

The next afternoon, Charlie found her, working on a sketch in one of the books from Facilier's library, her research abandoned to practice her shading techniques. "Mr. Fluffytail demands your presence at the trees at the edge of the border," She told her with a little bow. "He wishes to present the princess with a wreath of flowers," She continued before Mal snapped the book shut and let Charlie lead her out toward the border.

She didn't miss Adam's eyes following them as the young girl led her pretty far out past the massive piles of junk and all of the others doing their work. She had no doubt he was going to follow them, or at least tell Chip that his daughter was alone with a VK. She ignored the urge to make a face at him, and kept her attention forward on the little girl leading her through the trees.

Charlie sat her down on a stump and commanded that she close her eyes. Mal closed her eyes and waited, listening to the soft crunch of the dried leaves under Charlie's feet, the fresher scent of the forest closer to the barrier quite the relief compared to the close quarters of everyone else.

She felt the young girl place a slight weight on her head, the flower crown she had no doubts and she couldn't help but smile.

"I now pronounce you the princess of the-" Charlie stopped and shrieked and Mal forces her eyes open to see Charlie looking at her, her eyes wide in fear.

"Charlie?" Mal asked, looking at her quite concerned. Had something unplanned happened when she had pronounced her a princess, even though it was just child's play? "What's wrong?"

Charlie tried to stutter out her answer, but began crying before she could, pointing at Mal it seemed.

Then Mal saw it. A large bee hovering near the flowers circling her head and buzzing closer to Charlie which made her shriek.

So she was scared of the bee and not Mal. Mal waited until it flew a little farther out of reach and clamped her hands around it, smashing it with a satisfying crunch between her palms.

Charlie seemed to relax after that, but Mal turned at the clearing of a throat. Adam and Chip stood staring at the two of them, looking quite concerned.

"Don't you have research to be doing?" Adam asked her, giving her a critical eye. There was no compassion in his voice, his face completely stone. At least it was something other than anger.

"Queen Belle is expecting you for your lessons, Charlotte Lily," Chip told his daughter barely even looking at her.

Charlie looked back to Mal, her eyes big and sad. "Can you please find Ben?" She asked, "It's no fun without him and I miss our tea parties," She explained.

Mal ignored her, her attention focused on glaring at Adam as Chip led Charlie away, back toward the main area.

Mal took several steps toward Adam and revealed her hands to him, the smashed bee enough evidence she supposed as the thorax still wiggled in the muck of its innards. "Just so you know," She said, before she brushed it from her palms and pulled the flower crown from her head, knocking into him hard as she passed, not caring about their size difference. "You may have forbidden me from leaving the barrier, but I refuse to be trapped otherwise." She turned back to face him, her face hard. "As your son's only hope, I would reconsider your harsh treatment."

Then she left him and returned to the main area, bustling with those gardening and sewing and washing and bartering.

Research the last thing on her mind.

It was often hard to miss when Jay and Carlos returned from the forest with their official salvage group. Not only was Jay one of the best thieves, but he was also the most self absorbed, whooping and hollering in excitement and always comparing his loot to everyone else's, no matter what time of day it was, no matter how useless the junk was that he had swiped.

"Guess who found a phone that still has battery?" Jay boasted to the crowd that usually gathered when the salvaging parties came back. It was usually the hungriest of the people, the most desperate.

Belle, Adam and the other royalty never really appeared. They still had everything handed to them. Technically so did Mal, but she hadn't wanted half of it.

If things had gone back to the way they had been on the island, and we're going to stay that way for a while, she didn't want to have things handed to her. That was how royals got cushioned away from the real issues. That was how they all became soft and disillusioned to the real problems of their people.

"Great job genius!" She called to Jay from the crowd sarcastically. "Who are you planning to call?" Then she mimicked a conversation between him and her mother. "Yeah, Maleficent, Queen of All Evil?" She asked, And she noticed the way people reacted to her mother's name and title. "We're in the barrier between the tallest trees in the forest. You can't miss it!" Her future subjects should look upon her with fear. "What else did you find?" She asked authoritatively. Someone had to rule them when Belle and her beast weren't around.

They might as well get used to her as their leader, the months were dwindling down into weeks and she wasn't a magical genius or anything like that.

"Do you intend to treat your subjects with such ridicule when you are queen?" A voice asked from behind Jay. She looked toward the sound and found Meredith standing there, along with Merlin and the even older looking King Arthur.

Mal met her eyes, still not sure what to think of her since their last meeting, or how much she had changed over the last year and a half of her absence. "They need to know who's in charge." She looked to the faces around her. "They need to know the truth no matter how much it could scare them." She moved closer to Jay and Carlos and the rest of them, feeling everyone else's eyes on her, reverent in the presence of the future Queen, one way or another. "Would you rather I give them false hope and empty promises?" She asked, watching the three of them carefully, waiting for Meredith's answer.

"Your mother would," Meredith answered, a small satisfied smile crossing her lips at their banter. "Ben and his parents have," She continued, and Mal felt her fist curl at the mention of his name. "Every royal does it," She summarized.

Mal scoffed. "Do I look like every other royal to you?" She asked, looking from the pinkette to Merlin and then her own father. The crowd was starting to shift their focus to them rather than the loot Jay and the others had scored. They were all expecting a fight it seemed. "Does the world my mother created seem like a world where the other royals could survive?" She continued.

Meredith stared her down. "Considering that they are still alive, most of them out doing your mother's bidding, I would say your mother's gone soft." It seemed like she wanted a fight and Mal balled her fists in response. "Ben seems to be holding out pretty well too, given his current condition."

The mention of Ben made her snap. "What do you know about it?" Mal growled back at the older girl, feeling the familiar surge of magic through her bloodstream. A common occurrence whenever the other girl was around.

Meredith only seemed to revel in her fury, with a small laugh as they came face to face, nose to nose nearly. "Does the mention of Ben make you furious because you fear for him, or because you feel remorse for wanting to take his crown?" She asked, forcing Mal back with a few steps, a spell forming in her too. "Are you worried his feelings for you are only due to the love spell you forced upon him?"

Mal rushed forward with hurried irrational steps, the magic surging through her fingertips as she threw her hand up against Meredith, letting the spell fly free. In an instant she ended up flat on her back, nearly fifty feet away, her vision blurred by the lack of air in her lungs.

"You're pathetic," Meredith snarled suddenly much closer. "If you are the only hope for King Benjamin we might as well start chanting 'Long Live Maleficent!'" She shouted it loud into the trees and Mal jumped to her feet, ready to attack her with or without magic, only to be stopped by Jay and Carlos.

"Let it go, Mal," Jay told her, gripping her tight "Full faerie here is not worth it," He whispered into her ear. Mal struggled against him. "Revenge is best served when everyone else is asleep," He reminded her, and she relaxed just slightly against him. "Carlos and I found a little special something for you anyway," He continued, pulling Mal farther from the crowds, Carlos following.

She could hear another from their salvaging group begin to show off the knickknacks and small items they had brought back for the rest of them as Jay and Carlos led her deeper into the trees, but not past the border.

Jay looked around through the trees making sure no one had followed them and Carlos led her to a fallen tree to sit down. "You're going to want to sit down for this one."

Jay turned back to them and leaned in front of Mal, his hands on either side of her hips. She stared at him, unsure just what they were trying to do, or why they had to be so far into the trees. She wanted to get back to plotting her revenge against Meredith.

"As salvagers it's our job to find anything useful for the compound," Jay explained, but Mal already knew that. "Wood, metal, clothes and food." He listed off several more items after that. "We're told to leave anything that's irrelevant, but being a thief, I just can't resist the shiny things," He explained, then he pulled a small gold ring from his vest pocket and presented it to her, the beast on the crest quite obvious, even through the caked on mud.

Mal couldn't stop the relieved breath that escaped her as she stared at it. "You braved the castle again just to retrieve it?" She asked. The last time she had remembered seeing it was before her year and a half repose. She assumed her mother had removed it sometime during her sleep.

"Not exactly," Jay answered, as he placed it in her hand. "It was in the grass between here and Camelot Heights," He admitted, "I didn't know what it was until after we cleaned it up."

Mal stared at the small gold ring. The one Ben had given her before the coronation and the one that she had worn practically from that day on. She could feel the heaviness in her chest, the fear bubbling up from her stomach, the burn of tears in her eyes.

"Whoa!" Carlos whispered, rubbing her back gently as he looked to Jay, "You're-"

"Crying?" Mal asked as the first tear slid down her face, the pressures too great, the strength of her fellow VKs breaking through her defenses around everyone else. "You two tell anyone and I'll deny it," She threatened, without much threat behind it, her eyes focused on the ring in her hand.

She expected a joke, but Jay just stayed straight faced. "What has made the dragon cry?" He asked gently, staying where he was in front of her.

Mal tried to take a deep breath, but it came out in shallow gasps. "I wasn't expecting to find Ben's ring," She tried to cover, "It's such a tragedy it's so trashed," She lied.

Jay laughed, "Even Carlos knows that's bullshit," He continued, and Mal couldn't help but smile "I have never seen you so emotional over mud, so spill it."

Mal took another deep breath, that one more steady. "I'm scared I won't be able to save Ben," She admitted quietly and then it all just seemed to come out at once. "I thought I loved him, but my kiss turned him into the beast," She continued, thinking about how everything had been so perfect and then turned so sour. "And if I can't do it by love then I might as well do it by magic, but there are no spells for situations like this, and I feel trapped behind the barrier and I just-" She stopped to take a breath and another sob leaked out. "What if it wasn't love at all and just the effects of the love spell?"

Jay laughed and then sat on the other side of her, Carlos sat on the other side of her. "It's not a love spell," Carlos spoke up.

"How could you possibly know that?" Mal asked, looking from Jay to the youngest of their group as she wiped her cheeks.

Carlos just looked to Jay and smiled. "Should we tell her?" He asked Jay. She turned her attention to Jay and she could see his true smile grace his face.

"We might as well," Jay sighed, as if it were a huge burden that they had been keeping from her. Mal suddenly felt fear enter her chest and reside there like a huge anchor, holding her there, gasping for air. "He had feelings for you way before the love spell," he explained and Mal stared on, looking from Jay to Carlos.

Carlos nodded. "When he was helping me train for tourney, and we were changing in the locker room, he kept asking me all these questions about you, like if you preferred roses or sunflowers, or what you liked to do in your spare time, or what your favorite foods were." Mal stared at him. "He asked me if you had ever dreamed about him," he continued and Mal couldn't help but laugh.

"The boy has no chill," Jay laughed. "Not too long before you spelled him with that cookie, he confronted me and asked me if he should break up with Audrey if he wasn't sure of his feelings for someone else." Mal stared at him, "It didn't take rocket science to know he was talking about you."

"Before the love spell," Carlos continued, "And even after the love spell and the coronation when you two decided to take some time off, he was so over the moon for you," He continued, and Mal couldn't help but smile, thinking about how hellish those weeks had been.

Jay laughed. "When Carlos and I went to confront him and beat him up, at Evie's insistence, he nearly let us," He admitted, "He was so torn up at the whole thing, going on and on about how he was doing it to protect you and duty and blah blah blah," Jay went on. "It's love," he concluded gently.

Mal wanted to believe it. "Then why didn't he tell me about the curse he was under?" She asked, "Didn't he trust me to try and break it?" She continued, feeling her eyes fill up with tears again,

She watched as Jay looked to Carlos and then back to her. "Find him and ask him," Jay answered. "And as far as no spells existing for this situation, write one," He told her. "You have the power to change things."

Mal smiled weakly. "Thanks guys," she answered quietly. "But if you tell anyone that I cried, you're dead."

Both Jay and Carlos laughed. "Wouldn't dream of it," Jay answered. "You shall remain the mysterious queen to the rest of the subjects," he said with a short laugh.

"My lips are sealed," Carlos agreed.

"So are we plotting revenge tonight?" Jay asked, as Mal wiped her cheeks.

"You know it," Mal answered, her smile turning wicked, her eyes glowing green as the magic of petty revenge flowed through her.


	6. Chapter 6

The dark night was perfect cover for their plot. It wasn't completely perfect, as Meredith slept in the same large room as everyone else, between her father and another girl from Camelot Heights, but that just meant they had to really put their skills in stealth to good use. Mal, Carlos and Jay had pretended to go to sleep with the rest of the citizens of the compound, when Adam called curfew and extinguished the lights hours earlier, but really they lay in waiting. Mal had wanted Evie in on their plan too, but neither she, nor Doug, had been seen since- well Mal couldn't remember the last time she had seen Evie. It was a three man job it seemed.

She rolled over to face Carlos, and Jay behind him, meeting Jay's eyes over the smaller boy's head. They had grown up on the isle together, so they had no need for words in the darkness. She raised her eyebrow in question and he nodded slowly, the only sound around them the sleepy sounds of snores and wheezes and snorts of the entire compound asleep.

Mal removed the thin blanket from around her and stood up with a deftness that she doubted even Peter Pan could match. The floorboards didn't even creak under her feet, and the air around her seemed still as she snuck closer to Jay's roll and Meredith's.

She had been trained from a young age to be undetectable, quiet and as still as the night itself, and she made it over to Meredith's sleeping form with ease in the darkness. She knew exactly which wayward limbs of others to avoid, whose glasses not to step on, and the less secure floorboards that clapped loudly when stepped on the wrong way. In less than a minute, she leaned before Meredith, close enough to take her life if she so chose. Though she and the boys had a different plan.

Mal noiselessly removed the cap from the red tin that Evie had given her before she left for the summer castle. It seemed like lifetimes ago, but she and the boys had tested it on a very unwilling Carlos and it was still as potent as ever. She spread enough of the concoction over her finger to barely coat Meredith's thin lips, then tentatively spread her finger across the older girl's bottom lip.

The second she did, her vision blurred and a flash of violent colors assaulted her eyes, making her nearly jump and give herself away. The longer the colors blurred the more she seemed to become frozen, her fingers and hand burning with an undeniable fire that made her want to cry out, but she knew she could not.

And then it all stopped in an instant and she found herself face to face with Meredith herself in the darkened room, Meredith's hand wrapped tightly around her wrist "Did you really think I didn't know you were plotting against me?" She hissed.

Mal tried to hide her surprise behind a wicked smile. Meredith was borderline evil and she found herself starting to like it. "I was half hoping you didn't, so I could ship you back to the Isle," Mal answered.

Then it was Meredith's turn to hide her surprise. "I don't know what you're talking about," She answered, obviously flustered.

"You think I don't know who your mother is?" Mal answered back, reveling in the momentary fear that crossed through Meredith's hazel eyes. "You don't think we all heard her crying out for the daughter she lost?" She continued, her eyes scanning the sleeping bodies near them for any sign of waking. "The one that Merlin stole from her?" She continued.

Meredith let go of her wrist. "Ten years was enough of that old bat," She explained with a small smile and Mal knew she had turned things around. They both held disdain for their mothers.

"You were lucky enough to get out as a kid," Mal admitted, putting just a morsel of herself out to ease Meredith into submission. "I barely got out on a fluke proclamation," She admitted, not wanting to mention the previous king at all. The one that roamed the forest as a beast due to her kiss.

Meredith laughed and Mal stared, she could feel the boys glaring into her back, quite confused as well. "Consider yourself lucky that Arthur didn't know about you earlier," She explained. "I still don't think he's completely sure," She admitted, "And that might just save you long enough to save Ben."

Mal winced at the mention of Ben. No one else tended to want to mention his name out of fear,unless they absolutely had to do so.

She didn't want to broach that subject yet. "How long did it take you to master that defense charm?" She asked, much more interested in the magic rather than saving him. As Queen she would need defenses, whether things went well with the beast or not.

"Time you don't have if you're going to save the kingdom," Meredith answered truthfully. "But if it's magic you want, I could start you with some simpler stuff," She admitted and Mal couldn't help but smile. "But it would have to be in secret," She continued. "Adam absolutely hates all kinds of magic."

Mal knew all about that. "At night, when everyone else is asleep?" Mal suggested. "Now?" She asked, knowing there was no way she was going to be able to sleep that night.

Meredith shrugged. "Only if your bodyguards stay here," She answered, her gaze traveling back to Jay and Carlos. "And you don't use my own magic against me."

Mal turned back to Jay and Carlos and waved. "Deal," She answered as she turned back to Meredith and offered her hand to shake.

It was the beginning of a beautiful partnership, if nothing else.

And no one else had to know she was crossing her fingers in the darkness.

Mal was starting to enjoy the curtain that had once been a bedsheet to a royal. Well, not the curtain itself, but the privacy it provided her, the reprieve from the rest of the compound and the citizens that she would one day rule. The reprieve from the high expectations Belle and her beast and everyone else had thrown upon her.

She leaned against the lumpy pillow and pulled open the book of herbs and plants that she had lifted from the library that had once been Aurora's but that Dr. Facilier had taken over after Maleficent had taken over Auradon. It was the book where she kept all of her sketches. The blank margins of the pages quickly filling up with doodles and scribbles in an attempt to make it seem like she was looking for a way to save the kingdom.

No one else had to know that she was still unsure about everything.

She looked down at the unfinished sketch of a flower arrangement, one she had started days earlier and then looked toward the drying flower crown hidden just behind the lumpy pillow. The same flower crown that Charlie had brought her, and the same that had been the inspiration for the sketch itself. She pulled it out for further inspection.

The white flowers had begun to wilt into a faded yellow, the edges of their petals fading to a light brown. The pink flowers had wilted in on themselves, their long petals becoming brittle and easily falling apart between her fingers, their stems hardening and drying out nicely. Mal blinked a few times, staring at them, then began to thumb through the books of herbs. What were the names of those flowers again?

She found them easily enough and found they were ingredients in several spells for several reasons, and Charlie had brought them to her willingly, completely unaware.

If she had found those, what other flowers could she find for her? She closed the book of herbs and set the flower crown aside, well hidden under the pillow. She had to find Charlie.

Charlie, Chip and Mrs. Potts were usually found together, near the kitchen and the food preparation area of the compound. Mrs. Potts was the overseer of the food production for the little colony and the baker of most of the breads, when they could be baked, and the one of many who deemed the stolen food edible or not. Chip was one of the gardeners and Charlie tended to follow behind him, pulling up weeds. Or so Jay and Carlos and the others told her, Beastly Adam hadn't been big on her exploring every inch of the compound.

He only trusted her as long as she could save his son it seemed, and she was in no rush to do that.

The area of the compound with the large fields was easy to find, though no one had shown her. The compound was pretty large in itself, with the small shack with all of the rooms and the surrounding kiosks of junk and the large expansive space for people to run around and enjoy, and the large fields where most of the vegetables and fruits were grown and the few "safe" herbs for healing. It was very well thought out, even though it was run by Adam and Belle, but then again, they had set up the isle as well, with the help of Merlin and a few others from the magic council.

Mal found Charlie, and Chip in one of the big empty fields. Chip pushed the plough through the hardened, mostly still frozen earth and Charlie followed, looking quite bored, daydreaming in her own little world it seemed. Until she saw Mal.

"Mal!" She shouted in delight and ran across the field to meet her, a huge smile on her face. "Did you find Ben yet?" she asked, nearly vibrating with the excitement.

Mal did her best to try not to wince at the mention of the beast. She had been trying not to think about him, but people kept bringing him up, whether they meant to or not. "Not yet," She answered, not wanting to get into a huge discussion with the young girl. She was too young to understand her reasoning for what she was doing. She leaned down focusing on the young girl and not her father coming up behind her. "I came by to see if you wanted to have a tea party, since our last one got interrupted." She looked up to Chip, awaiting his response.

If he didn't agree, she would have to get to Charlie some other way. Perhaps Mrs. Potts could persuade her son into letting the little girl play with Mal and do her bidding for spell ingredients. She could always hypnotize them, the way her mother had.

Luckily it didn't come to that. She could almost physically see Chip's resolve breaking. "Be home by dinner time," He told his daughter, "And no leaving the barrier!" He warned.

"You have my word," Mal answered, she didn't plan to have Charlie leave the barrier that afternoon, and it wasn't like she could force her to stay in other times. It wasn't necessarily a lie, just a half truth. She would send her out of the barrier eventually, but not before dinnertime.

From there, Charlie led her toward the trees and back to where they had been when she had given her the flower crown. She sat down on the same fallen log and Mal joined her. "We have to pretend," Charlie told her matter of factly, "I couldn't take my tea set with me when we left the castle. I could only take Mr. Fluffytail," she said sadly and for the first time, Mal felt the true pain her mother caused. The childhood that she had stolen from yet another little girl.

Mal gave her a small smile. "That's ok," she continued. "I'm really good at pretending," She admitted, "And just because the other members of our tea party aren't here doesn't mean they can't be here in our minds," She continued, not exactly sure where her words were coming from, or who had taught her to be so soft.

She knew that answer. Prince Footstool himself. He had smoothed her rough edges only to leave her to sharpen them again on her own. Yet with Charlie, she found herself finding that softness again. She could make a little girl smile and that was something that made her feel better than staring at books of magic that held no answers.

"Close your eyes," Mal told the little girl sitting next to her, "And think of the last time we had a tea party." She had no idea if it was going to work, but she figured it wouldn't hurt to try. "Tell me what you see and what you feel," she continued.

Charlie closed her eyes and stayed quiet for a few long seconds as she thought about it. "We're in my bedroom, sitting around the little table, the tea set all set out and we're all excited for the tea party. Princess Lollipop and Mr. Fuzzytail and Mr. Stuffington are there, and Ben," Mal tried to remember him as he had been that day, the disguise glasses covering most of his face, so she didn't have to face the pain that his smile had caused her as of late. "We're laughing." Something Mal was sure no one in the compound had really done in a long time.

"Open your eyes," Mal answered, tapping Charlie's forehead with the gentlest of touches, hoping the little bit of magic in the forest would be enough.

Charlie gasped and Mal knew exactly what she was seeing behind her spelled eyes. It was usually used as deceptive magic, or as Meredith had used it, a defense spell, but to see Charlie smile was enough. "Mr. Stuffington and Princess Lollipop!" she exclaimed, hugging the empty air, but in her mind, the stuffed animals were really in her arms. "And Ben!" she squealed, hugging the empty air again.

Mal struggled to keep the spell working at the thought of the little girl physically able to feel Ben's arms around her and her arms around him. She was still trying to be mad at him after a few days longer than a week knowing what he had done, but watching Charlie, imagining Ben in all his perfection was starting to break down her defenses.

Mal cleared her throat as Charlie seemed to let go of the imaginary Ben and start pouring the tea from the tea set. "I'll keep showing you fun times like this," Mal started, feeling slightly hesitant about the whole thing, but knowing exactly what she had to do. "If you bring me more flower crowns," she continued, breaking the spell on Charlie in an instant and the girl looked around the forest, the disappointment evident all over her face.

Then she turned to Mal, her eyes alight with excitement. "Can you show me anything?" She asked and Mal shrugged. "I'll bring you all the flower crowns you want!" She answered. "Just tell me what color flowers you want and I will find them!" she explained.

Mal started to feel bad as she watched the excited little girl. She couldn't help but wonder what the little girl was so excited to see. What she wanted Mal to show her. She could see that the little girl was ready to go to the grove of flowers, and she half wanted her to, but she remembered what Chip had wanted. The next flower crown could wait until tomorrow, Mal guessed.

"What kind of tea are we having today, Charlie?" she asked, keeping up the facade of the tea party. "Is it extra hot, like Princess Featherduster likes it?"

Were children always so easily manipulated?


	7. Chapter 7

The moon was barely a sliver in the sky as Meredith sent another spell her way, and she barely dodged it. They had already been practicing magic duels for nearly a week and Meredith was not pleased at all with Mal's progress. She had made that abundantly clear over their past few sessions and didn't hold back her harsh criticism. Mal half enjoyed it, at least someone was completely honest with her.

Everyone else she interacted with, or tried not to interact with, was too gentle and soft.

"Where is your head?" Meredith admonished her, physically grabbing her and pulling her closer. "If you're distracted by something else, your spells and charms are going to be easily broken." She growled. "If you're planning on magicking Ben again, you better be completely focused or he'll remain a beast!" She shouted freely, shoving Mal into the muddy ground.

They were already as far as they could be away from the sleeping shack, the frozen fields the perfect sparring grounds, the elements another foe against either of them. Mal struggled to pull herself up from the sticky mud, almost as treacherous as quicksand. She tried to dodge as Meredith threw another spell her way, the yellow sparks enough for her to know she didn't want to be hit by it. She yanked her hand free from the muck and cast the smallest defensive spell she could manage in the space of the few seconds she had.

"Weak!" Meredith shouted at her. "You could barely spell yourself out of a wet paper bag!" She shot another wordless spell out, this one with angry red demon faces, forcing Mal back into the mud with the little progress she had made to escape, the mud sucking her back down. "The idea that you can shapeshift Ben with that weak crap is ludicrous and ridiculous!"

Mal hopped to her feet and sent the nastiest spell she knew toward Meredith, her anger mounting, but not the hot anger. No horns would come out that night, she knew full faerie was not necessary, nor would it be a good idea with so many susceptible people around. "It's not ridiculous!" She shouted back, as Meredith blocked her spell and knocked her on her ass, splattering her with mud yet again.

Meredith just let out a short laugh and closed the distance between them by a few slow steps in the mud, her defensive spell still standing. "He said you would say that," She explained and Mal just stared, letting Meredith's next spell hit her hard, but not as hard as her words.

She could feel the pain spreading through her skin and through her muscles and bones and down to her very core, seeming to set her insides on fire, but that didn't hurt nearly as much as Meredith's words had. "You talked to him?" she asked, shaking the spell from her as if it were nothing, her concern about Meredith and Ben more prominent than any spell that Meredith could ever cast over her.

Meredith tried to cast another spell against her, but Mal blocked it, pulling herself to her feet, though the pain still coursed through her body. "You shouldn't even be standing!" Meredith covered, trying to throw yet another spell, "That's supposed to be the worst pain you've ever felt!" She was losing the upperhand and Mal could see that. "You should be crying out in pain and agony!"

Mal just let out a dark laugh, "I grew up on the isle, my mother is the Queen of all things Evil, and you think that's the worst pain I've ever felt?" She asked, casting another spell toward Meredith and breaking through her defenses more and more each time. "After all I endured, I am practically immune to pain." She closed the distance between herself and Meredith. "You've talked to him since my mother took over, haven't you?" She asked, closing the distance between them and gripping Meredith's cheeks hard. "Yet you bear no scars or injury." All of the other girls that had tried to save Ben had ended up with the souvenirs of deep jagged scars on their once pristine skin, Audrey's being the worst by far. "Why?"

Meredith pushed her away, but Mal stayed on her feet that time. "You haven't figured it out yet?" She asked, and Mal jumped to avoid another dark spell. "I went to him with no expectations of love or gooey promises." Mal stared at her through her defensive shield, back up again. "I treated him as what he was, not as I wanted him to be." Mal shot back a spell in response. "He's still the Ben everyone knew, but those saps couldn't see past his exterior."

Mal ducked yet another spell, nearly face planting into the mud, as Meredith aimed for her chest. She brushed her mud soaked hair from her eyes, cursing herself again for not cutting the long curls yet, and spreading more mud across her forehead. That was the least of her concerns. "You tried to spell him back into a boy, didn't you?" She asked, watching the older girl carefully for any signs of affirmation to her question.

Sure enough, Meredith's face gave her away. She sighed in defeat. "A year and a half is a long time," she explained. "Countless girls had tried and ended up scarred for the rest of their lives, and I thought that I could break my own mother's conditions, but even I was unsuccessful," She admitted. "Good luck if you think you can magic him back into a boy with your weakass magic," She continued, going from insecure to words like knives in just a few short seconds.

Mal growled, throwing another dark spell toward Meredith. "If you would teach me rather than just throwing weak spells at me," She explained, "I might stand a chance before his birthday in just over two months!"

Meredith grabbed her wrist hard, twisting her away with brute force rather than anything magical. "Have you ever considered trying to revert him with true love?" She asked, forcing Mal into the mud yet again. "Have you ever considered that even if you do become stronger in the magical arts that it will never be enough to break the conditions of my mother's magic?" She asked.

Mal twisted back against her and shoved her down into the mud, not a speck of magic, but her pure strength enough to knock Meredith into the mud. "Haven't you heard, Mer?" she asked, her smile wicked as she held the older girl down, "I'm not capable of love," She whispered quite close in her ear. Then she released Meredith and moved back toward the civilian area of the compound.

"Could have fooled me," Meredith answered, catching up to her and pulling her back toward the barren field, full of mud and melted snow. "You don't want to admit it, and no one will dare to tell you, but you do love Ben." Mal scoffed, trying to shake Meredith from her, "The great lost princess of King Arthur is scared."

"I'm not scared!" Mal answered back a little too quickly. "And call me a princess again and you won't be able to continue your little chats with Ben in the forest," She threatened.

"You're jealous!" Meredith realized, throwing Mal to the ground yet again, forcing Mal to fight her off. "You can't stand the fact that I can leave the barrier and find Ben anytime I want, but that you're shackled here to his parents and the research that you are doing to try and save him," She almost smiled at that development.

"Jealous?" Mal laughed, "Right!" She scoffed, pulling Meredith back by her hair. "I'm jealous of an aging hasbeen with disgusting pink hair just because she can talk to a boy that I kissed once or twice." She rolled her eyes.

Meredith slammed her down hard into the hard ground. "Your words say one thing, but your actions say another," Meredith warned her. "If you go looking for Ben with any fear, he'll see right through you and scar up that pretty little face of yours." She bashed her head hard into the dirt, and Mal could feel the anger starting to heat up inside her.

"You want me angry," She realized, noticing how Meredith had been picking at her every insecurity. "You want me to go full faerie!"

Meredith just laughed. "So the spawn of Maleficent does have a brain after all!" She exclaimed.

"You're evil," Mal answered with the slightest of smiles, panting hard. "I like you," she admitted.

"You're tolerable," Meredith responded, helping Mal up to her feet. "Same time tomorrow night?" She asked her as the sun began to peek through the trees and the hazy barrier.

Mal nodded, catching her breath. "Though you're not going to get me angry enough to reach full faerie," She explained. "There are already enough subjects of the kingdom under my mother's faerie lust."

Meredith bumped into her hard as they got closer to the main square of the compound. "I'll find out how eventually," She told her, "And once I do, we can mount an army against her army."

Mal rolled her eyes and shook her head as they slipped into the sleeping shack, magicking the sticky mud from their clothes and hair. She shook her head at Meredith again before she slipped behind her curtain, casting the illusion that she had either been sleeping or studying the books to save Ben all night. No one had to know what she and Meredith got up to while they all slept peacefully, thinking she would so quickly save the beast king.

What idiots!

Mal found herself sketching more often than reading. It was much easier to send Charlie for the right flowers when she could sketch them out and show the young girl exactly what she was looking for. So far, it had been a roaring success, even though several of the flowers and herbs had taken Charlie much longer to find. Mal had tried to hide her disappointment, but occasionally she could see the small tears pulling at the rounded corners of the little girl's eyes.

She never hugged her, or barely thanked her for the help in finding the necessary ingredients for an even stronger love spell. The little girl often spread her arms wide, hoping for a hug or any small sign of affection, but Mal always avoided her, or moved past her to tuck her treasures behind the lumpy pillow. She did give the little girl the memories she asked for.

Past birthday parties for the Dragon's tooth flowers.

Losing her first tooth and the silver coin the supposed tooth fairy had brought her for the thistle flowers.

Her first memory of a mini Ben, as he pushed her around the royal gardens in a wheelbarrow for the few leaves she could find of the fire flower.

There were still several herbs and flowers missing from Mal's stock, but Charlie seemed happy enough to repeat memories, and still find her flowers just for fun. She continued to bring her flower crowns too, mostly of more beautiful than useful flowers, but Mal couldn't complain. It was quite a nice cover, and it kept suspicion from her real purposes for playing with the young girl.

"Mal?" The young girl's voice came from behind the thin curtain.

Mal jumped. She wasn't expecting any deliveries from Charlie, or any that she had sent her for at least, and she had been sure that it was one of Charlie's days for etiquette lessons with Belle, even in the darkest of times, Belle was still a stickler for etiquette.

"Madame Belle has asked me to invite you up to the balcony for tea," She spoke, her words carefully chosen and expertly executed, not like when she was allowed to be herself and just play.

Mal sighed, her sketch would have to wait. "I'll be out in a minute and we can go together," Mal answered. She had tried her best to avoid Belle and her husband, especially together, because they only tended to remind her of him, and her failures.

Belle's eyes when she smiled were the same as his, their eyes almost the same exact shade. Adam's stature and posture were his too. The parts of his parents that made him who he was were too difficult for her to bear at times. So she had avoided them, and any thought of him, if she could get away with it.

The tea that Belle wanted was not going to be one of those times. So Mal hardened herself to the intrusive memories and feelings that were to come and pulled the curtain aside to see Charlie there waiting for her, a little smile on her face.

She gave the little girl a smile. "Can we have our own tea party afterward?" She asked the little girl. She was nearly done with the sketch of the _Rosa gymnocarpa_ and a few others and she knew it would be much easier to send her after their tea with Belle rather than hunting her down later.

It was a great cover. When they had tea parties, Charlie would go to her flower grove and Mal could explore the outer edges of the barrier for any signs of escape. In a way it was kind of like an escape in itself. The outer borders were much quieter than the bustling center and anywhere where she couldn't run into his parents was a great place to be.

The little girl nodded and extended her hand. Mal took it and the two of them traveled the short distance to the spiraling stairs that led to the small loft like apartment that Belle and her beast had had made for them.

Only the best for formal royalty.

Mal had never been inside, or ever summoned upstairs and she preferred it that way. The only view she had had for weeks was the small stained glass window with its deep blues and yellows and the red rose, their insignia, and the same design on the pocket watch around her neck. That couldn't be a coincidence at all.

Once she and Charlie reached the top of the spiral staircase, made of any spare wood that could be found and smoothed out the best it could be, their small apartment was quite sad. A lumpy mattress against the far wall with threadbare blankets and warped pillows, a small table with four mismatched chairs, a small sink and one counter inhabited by a hot plate with a rumbling teapot, with a dingy broken window providing the only sunlight, and piles and piles of books, no doubt organized perfectly to her liking, though it just looked like a mess to Mal were the only items in the small apartment Fairy Godmother had provided them.

No trace of their royalty remained and it pleased Mal. She truly was their only hope and she reveled in that fact just slightly as Belle stood to greet them, setting the well read book down to the side and out of the way.

Mal and Charlie joined her at the table, Charlie taking the seat closest to Belle and Mal sitting across from her, and as close to the door as possible.

"Thank you, Charlotte," Belle told the little girl, giving her a small smile and petting her perfectly braided hair. "As promised, you can have the afternoon off today."

Mal tried not to hide her surprise, but she knew she should have expected nothing less from the previous queen. The child had been an excuse to get Mal alone with her.

"Bye Mal," Charlie said, standing from the chair and pushing it in, then giving Belle and Mal small bows. "I'll see you later for our tea party," She continued.

Mal just nodded shortly, trying not to misplace her disappointment onto the little girl. "We'll make flower crowns with pink flowers," It was the best she could do with Belle listening in. Mal just hoped the little girl could grasp her meaning.

Then Charlie left, leaving Belle and Mal alone. Once Mal was sure she was gone and out of earshot, Mal turned back to Belle.

"Using a small child to do your bidding?" She asked, "Careful Belle, that's the same thing my mother would do." And the same thing she was doing, but she wasn't about to split hairs.

Belle kept her composure as Mal ripped into her, her head held high. "I knew if I asked, you would never come," She admitted. "But if I sent Charlotte there was a chance you would grace me with your presence," She continued. "And here you are."

Mal knew passive aggressiveness when she saw it. "Here I am," Mal answered, able to throw it right back. "Is there a reason why you called me here for tea, or was it just to distract me from saving your only son?" She always loved to throw guilt at Belle and her husband whenever the opportunity arose.

The brief glimpse of grief at the mention of her son was enough for the moment. "I want to know your progress," Belle answered, the grief gone as quickly as it had come, "You've been with us here in the barrier for nearly a month and you have yet to come to us with anything concerning Ben."

Mal knew she was using his name as a tactic to get her to feel something, anything for their son. "I'm pretty self sufficient," Mal answered, "I can find what I need on my own," She explained, knowing there was more to it than that. Maybe she could bargain for something else. "Though it would be gracious of you and that Beast of a husband to let me out of the barrier to explore for a few hours, so I know what I'm dealing with when I do go out to find Ben." She surprised herself with the calmness that came from the mention of his name.

"Not a chance," Belle answered, "You will come to us once you are ready." So they wouldn't budge on that, though Mal figured as much. Stubbornness ran in the Adamson family as thick as porridge.

The teapot hummed from the hot plate and Belle turned her attention toward it, her side profile as she did reminding Mal of Ben, but she shoved those thoughts away.

"Would you like to stay for tea, or shall I let you get back to delaying our only son's return?" Belle asked her, her attention back on Mal and Mal had to say she was impressed at the bite behind Belle's words.

Her husband had been the beast, but she had an animalistic anger to her too.

"I'll stay," Mal decided, if to do nothing more than delay Belle a few minutes more from finishing her book, or getting to her other duties. It kept her away from boredom too and gave her a chance to sharpen her VK edge.

"How do you take your tea?" Belle asked her. With anyone else it would be a mundane conversation, but Mal sensed a Cold War brewing between them.

Belle had been one to teach her the etiquette of the kingdom, in the princess boot camp, and Mal knew the polite answer, as did every other little girl in Auradon. She wasn't about to give the polite answer though. "Scalding hot," Mal explained, "And black as it comes," She continued.

Most princesses took it with a few spoonfuls of sugar and cream to sweeten it. Mal knew better. She knew Belle would ruin it anyway. Her way of retaliating, since she clearly didn't have the oratory knives that Mal possessed, nor the fighting skills to back it up.

Belle placed a chipped, dingy cup before her and Mal glanced at the dark brew before she looked up at the older woman across from her. She could have easily doctored it in the several seconds she took to pour the cups. Mal wagered a sip anyway, knowing the first rule to any confrontation was to never show any fear.

It was the sweetest tea she had ever tasted, but she had expected that, and kept a straight face. "You should know better than to try and make me angry," She spoke slowly and calmly, like her mother had mastered over her several centuries of life. "That did not end well for you the last time."

The reunion ball, when she had gone full faerie and nearly the entire kingdom had come out of it the next day looking like they had all joined a fight club. Belle had taken a good amount of the beating, along with everyone else. The silvery scar above her left eye still visible, her skin no longer as perfect as when makeup were easily attainable.

"And as your son's last hope, making me angry will not bode well for you," She took another sip of the tea to show Belle that she was not about to back down.

Belle almost laughed a dark chuckle. "You think I don't know how to negotiate with terrorists?" She answered back. "That all I did was hang on my husband's arm while he made all the arrangements for the kingdom?" It had sure seemed that way, but Mal knew better. "Whose idea do you think it was to create the isle in the first place?" She asked.

"Color me impressed," Mal answered, her tone flat. "Though the history books would never give you credit because queens are supposed to be docile and silent, right?" She questioned.

Belle's gaze was trained on her and Mal could see the anger stirring between her calm facade. She wanted to keep pushing her, give her any reason to doubt her reasons for even thinking about saving Ben.

"You're a fool!" She laughed darkly. "What idiot falls in love with a beast and submits to him willingly?" She asked. "You could have ruled his kingdom and taken him as a pet, but you fell in love." She drew out the last word, her arms crossed as she leaned back in the chair relaxing her posture just enough. "What idiot falls in love with the villain?" She continued, quite ready to continue, until something else happened.

Belle reached forward and grabbed Mal by her shirt, one of her hands smacking hard against Mal's cheek. "You shut your mouth about things you don't know about!" Belle shouted at her, the facade completely gone.

It didn't hurt, her own mother had hit her much much harder and with much more anger, it was more of a shock, but Mal used it to fuel her own anger. "You just lost your only shot at saving your son!" She growled back, "Enjoy your life under my mother's thumb." Then she pulled Belle's hands from her shirt, pushing the older woman onto her back and darted down the spiral staircase and out of the sleeping shack and away from the masses and toward the barrier, her feet carrying her as fast as she could run.

She only stopped when she reached the barrier. Then she took a deep breath and stepped out.


	8. Chapter 8

Stepping out of the barrier felt like taking a deep breath after swimming in the deepest lake. In an instant, the air was fresher, the winter sun was warmer, and the trees and plants were greener. Mal wished she had time to explore, scout for spell ingredients, discover her true evil potential, but she knew she had to keep running, get as far away as possible before Adam started the official manhunt for her.

He wouldn't be very happy once he found out what happened between her and his wife.

He hadn't lied about the barrier alarming if she stepped out though. As soon as she had stepped about halfway through it, a shrill shriek of a siren sounded and then as soon as she had stepped all the way out it had stopped, the forest around her completely silent, besides the crunching of the leaves beneath her feet as she ran. The alarm must have been ear splitting inside the barrier, but the forest was so infinite and freeing.

Mal kept running, darting through the trees, both familiar and unfamiliar. She knew Adam had no doubt sent someone, or perhaps several someones out to find her, and she was not about to go back.

Not for Belle and her husband, nor Fairy Godmother, nor her fellow VKs, nor Charlie. Not a single soul inside that barrier could make her go back.

They never should have saved her from her mother's hold in the first place. That was where she belonged and she should have seen it from the beginning. She should have never let herself be so easily swayed over the strongest love spell known to man. She should have taken the wand and ruled with or without her mother. It was her right as the daughter of King Arthur.

She should have been the next ruler, either by birth, or by force. And she would be in-

She stopped to catch her breath and opened the pocket watch around her neck. She would be next queen in:

one month,

twenty-six days,

eight hours,

three minutes

and fifty-eight seconds.

If only she could best her mother.

She closed the pocket watch, half tempted to tear it from her neck and smash it into pieces on the forest floor, but instead, she kept it right where it was and continued through the forest, her pace much slower since she had created some distance between herself and the barrier.

That was a mistake, she realized, as a pair of strong arms grabbed her and shoved her into the dirt before she could even think to react. From the slight glimpse she could get and the feel of the strength he held over her and his stealth, she knew it had to be one of Shang's soldiers, or perhaps even Shang himself.

Of course he would be one of the barrier guards.

"Come on," Shang's voice came from behind her as she was hauled up to her feet. She figured Adam would send nothing but the best after her, most likely to drag her back to do their bidding against her will. "You didn't think King Adam was going to let you escape so easily did you?" He asked, leading her back in the general direction of the barrier town.

"Former King," Mal answered, not about to let anyone forget it as Shang forced her through the trees. "Technically former former king," She continued, not about to let anyone forget the fact that she was next in line either. Or would it be former former former king?

Shang laughed, and that was not at all what Mal expected. "He is still your elder, and you should respect him," He said once he got over his slight giggle fit. "He does what he does to protect you, even though he seems like a tyrant to your younger generation," He explained. "All fathers only want to protect their offspring."

Mal didn't look at him. "I wouldn't know," She answered. Sure, she knew who her father was, after years and years of her mother just telling her he was a frail human, but that didn't mean she had had any inkling what a father was supposed to do.

"Trust me," Shang continued. "King Adam only has what's best in mind for the kingdom," He explained. "He's had to make some tough choices, but it was what was best for the most people."

It was a speech she had heard in her classes several times before. All hail King Adam and his choices to protect those in Auradon. Then, once Ben was coronated, it became all hail King Ben.

"You haven't once mentioned his son," Mal realized as the tall trees of the border came into view. "The true king of Auradon," She continued before she realized the words had left her mouth.

"His mention seems to upset you," Shang commented, "Unless you want to talk about him."

Mal stayed quiet after that, definitely not wanting to talk about him with Shang. It wasn't that much longer until they were back in the barrier and she was sure Belle and her beast of a husband would have quite a lot to say about her departure. Sure enough, the barrier appeared sooner than she wished, and entering it felt like slipping into a shirt two sizes too tight, stifling.

Just as she thought, Belle and her towering Beast stood waiting, both not looking very pleased, and not hiding their anger very well. Adam was practically vibrating with the anger within him, nearly ready to turn back into the beast if it were physically possible. Belle's anger was more subdued, though not by much.

"I warned you what would happen if you left the barrier again," Adam, more Beast than Man growled at her, as he reached forward to grab her.

She shot out electric sparks from her palm in retaliation, barely even thinking about it, a simple defense mechanism.

That only made him angrier. "You dare use magic against the king of the barrier?!" He bellowed. "I could easily banish you with nothing but the clothes on your back."

Mal laughed darkly. "King of the Barrier?" She questioned, looking around to the crowds that had gathered and the dilapidated hamlet they had built. "Like that's something to be proud of!" She answered. "Maleficent took rule of the entirety of Auradon and you are proud to be the self proclaimed King of the Barrier!" More people were gathering. "This place is a shithole and you were and still are a shit king!" She could hear the crowd's reactions, all tangible and for a brief second she wondered where her fellow VKs were.

She could only see Adam getting more angry, the veins popping out of his forehead, his face more red than purple, and she reveled in it. "How does it feel to have the shoe on the other foot?" She asked. "Look around you, Beast!" She challenged, "You've recreated the Isle of the Lost! How does it feel to suffer like you made us for the past two decades?" She knew it was nowhere near as bad as the Isle had been, but give it time and it would rival it easily enough.

"As your king-" Beast started and Mal just cackled at him again, cutting him off and subduing him into a rage filled silence.

"You are not my King!" Mal spat at him. "How easily you forget the true King, your son!" She shouted before she could even think to stop herself. She saw both of their faces change nearly instantly. "The child who could never meet your expectations," she continued softer, holding their secrets over their heads like a guillotine, ready to spill the blood of the truth they had been hiding for years. "The child you transformed into a beast with your vanity and your pride. The child you magicked to meet your expectations." Everyone would know the truth eventually, if they didn't already. "You know what I think?" She continued, her voice once again calm, the same cool ire that her mother possessed. "I think he's probably happier a beast because he doesn't have to deal with you and all of the times you failed him as parents."

"Maleficent Bertha Blackheart," Beast bellowed, his anger winning out over his shame, "I banish you from the barrier with nothing but-"

A shriek came from closer to the fields and all attention turned from them to Mrs. Potts shriek. "She's gone!" Mrs. Potts shouted, "Ma petite bijoux is gone!"

Chip's voice came from the crowd, but Mal kept her eyes on Beast and his not so docile wife. "Charlotte Lily?" He questioned, no doubt trying to console his hysterical mother. "She was with Queen Belle last for tea."

After that, all eyes shifted to Belle, including Mal's, a wicked smile forming on her face. The former Queen couldn't explain herself and Mal knew she would find satisfaction in her humiliation. She was supposed to watch over the little girl and yet she had sent her away.

She had failed another child.

"I know where Charlotte Lily is," Mal explained, her wickedness, her true evil coming through and she reveled in the fright and reverence of the crowd around her. She could definitely work that to her advantage. "But since I'm banished from the barrier I don't see why I should help you."

"Please!" Mrs. Potts begged, rushing forward and gripping Mal's legs in desperation. "I beg of you, be merciful and find her. She is my only granddaughter." Mal looked down at her and felt nothing for the distraught woman.

She felt nothing for any of them. She had never felt anything for anyone but disdain and annoyance. Even Ben had just been an illusion of chemical reactions in the brain. She was better off alone anyway, take the kingdom back from her mother alone, not let her torture anyone else.

"You will lead Chip and myself to where Charlotte is," Beast commanded her, trying to force his anger into nicer words to command her to assist them. She felt like laughing at all of their weaknesses. "If you choose not to help, I will kill you where you stand."

There were gasps of shock from the crowd, but Mal just squared her shoulders and met his hard gaze with her own. She knew that he had never once killed anyone during his reign, he mostly just banished. "Why would I possibly do that?" She challenged, she knew Beast would never go through with it, especially since she was their son's only hope.

"Please," Chip's voice came from behind her. "I know you think you don't know love," she kept her gaze on Adam before her and tried not to break at the mention of love and the memories it tended to bring up of Ben. "But the way Charlotte talked about you and Ben." There was the mention of Ben again. "She loves you, Mal. She can't stop talking about the tea parties you two have."

They had had two actual tea parties, the rest were just her sending the little girl off into the forest for all of the herbs and flowers that she could. Yet the little fool had said that she enjoyed it? How naive was she?

And love, preposterous!

Still, she had accepted Mal just as easily as Ben had. They were both naive idiots, but perhaps there could be a use for the little girl in the future.

"There's a flower grove somewhere beyond the barrier," Mal explained, her face and her words strong as stone and as unbending. "As far as I know that was where she was going to go after tea with Belle."

And just like that, things were set in motion.

Chip seemed to know exactly where the flower grove was, and he, Beast and Mal made it there in just a few short minutes. She was out of the barrier again, and the fresher air was a blessing, but Beast's grip on her was tighter than the barrier would ever make her feel.

She knew he wasn't about to let her go, so she kept her calm composure through their fast paced walk through the forest, through their search of the flower grove, and even when the three of them found Charlie on the ground looking as if she was under a sleep spell, her lips a familiar shade of purplish blue.

As soon as she saw the young girl, the memories began to play behind her eyes, not her own, but Charlie's.

A red haired woman smiling down at her as a toddler, her smile making the warmth spread through Mal's chest.

A young boy with honey hair and blue eyes like the sky rolling her around in a wheelbarrow under the bright summer sun.

She kept her composure through Chip's urgent reaction of scooping her into his arms and darting back for the barrier too. And as Beast forced her back through the forest and back into the barrier.

Immediately as soon as they were back through the barrier, Beast forced her to follow Chip toward what she could only imagine was the medical supply. She watched as Chip laid Charlie down and scavenged the cabinets of broken bottles and cracked plastic dispensaries for anything useful.

Baking cookies with Mrs. Potts and the young honey haired boy, the familiar scent of a warm oven and melting chocolate almost real as Chip's disappointed groan came from before her though she couldn't see him.

A purple haired girl sitting in a hallway looking quite sad while the sound of shouts came from behind the closed door.

"There's nothing here!" Chip cried out in anguish and Mal was pulled from the memory by Chip's hand grabbing her hard. "Please save her!" He begged, just as his mother had done. "Save my little girl!"

Mal turned back to Beast, as much as she could with his rough hold on her neck and her wrist. "If I save her, I want free range of the forest," She said, "I get to come and go as I please and no one can question where I go or what I do."

The door to the medical supply burst open and Evie and Jay and Carlos and Doug appeared along with Belle and Mrs. Potts and Fairy Godmother, but Mal kept her eyes on Beast.

"Anything less and you can say goodbye to your precious Charlie and Ben," Mal continued, as the little girl's memories continued to play through her mind.

The tea party she had shared with her and Ben.

"Mal!" Carlos whispered to her with urgency. Even her fellow VKs were going to try and convince her otherwise.

"Think about what's at stake here," Jay continued, but Mal already had as the sad memory of Charlie alone on her birthday played before her eyes, Ben fully absorbed in the obviously fake Mal "If Ben ever comes back-"

"No!" Mal shouted back to them as Charlie's memory of the summer solstice celebrations played before her eyes, the elation at her kiss with Ben nearly instantly replaced by the fear of his gruesome transformation and Mal's fall into unconsciousness through her young naive eyes. "Ben isn't coming back!" She finally shouted at all of them. "Don't you all realize that?" She turned her attention to all of them as much as she could.

Beast's grip tightened on her neck but she continued anyway. Charlie's more minor memories since Maleficent's takeover playing through her head as she continued. "You expect me to do the impossible when I can't leave the barrier, or do the proper research. You all have seemed to forget that I was the one who transformed him into the beast in the first place! So don't lord Ben over my head to save this little girl who means absolutely nothing to me! I am not capable of love!"

She had no reason to save her, no reason to stay. She could be evil all on her own.

"That is bullshit and everyone here knows it!" Evie answered, stepping away from the rest of the crowd that had gathered around the small girl and facing Mal head on. "How many times have you told me you couldn't live without Ben, or survive an entire summer without him? How many days have you taken time to play with Charlie and made her smile?" She asked her, revealing things she had confided to her in secret.

"I was wrong!" Mal shouted back, the image of the flower grove coming to her eyes from Charlie's view, the beautiful flowers in her hand so warm and vibrant, then the pain of a bee sting and the dimming of the world around her. "Love is useless and I will never ever let it make me weak like that again."

Evie slapped her hard and Mal felt the familiar warm anger boil up into her chest. "What are you trying to prove?" Evie asked her. "Everyone knows you are capable of love except you! You're scared and you don't want to admit it!"

Mal scoffed, Evie's physical blow fanning her anger. "Thank you for finally gracing us with your presence, Evie!" She shouted at her, way past the cool anger phase. "So glad you could climb off of Doug and quit being a whore for five minutes to admonish me." She didn't have to look at any of the others to know that they had shocked them with her words. "It doesn't change the fact that I can't save Ben, or Charlie for that matter," She continued.

Evie kept her face as neutral as she could. "I won't deny that Doug and I do have a lot of sex in the forest," She admitted, "But you know what we've spent the most time doing?" She took a step closer to where Mal was still in Beast's clutches. "Watching over that little girl that you've sent into the forest to do your bidding, and trying to hunt down Ben, for you!" she shrieked, no longer able to stay calm and collected. "Everyone in this godforsaken barrier is trying to help you help Ben, but you have been procrastinating and wasting time doing who knows what!" Mal stared at her. "If you don't save that little girl over there, who has done nothing but try and please you, then I hope Ben stays a beast and I hope your mother tortures you to death, because that is what you deserve."

"What am I supposed to do?" Mal asked, but didn't expect an answer. "Save Charlie so she can suffer though more of this hell my mother created? Save Ben and then what?" She continued, asking angry questions she didn't ever want answers to. "Not even think about besting my mother so I can take control over this shitshow of a kingdom?" She growled. "I refuse to save them so my mother can use them against me."

"You're just going to let her die?" Evie asked, her anger back under control "Not even try to save either of them?"

"I can't," Mal answered quietly. The little girl's memories had stopped and it had been several minutes since she had seen her chest move. "She's dead," She explained, not looking at anyone, or anything in particular.

Mrs. Potts let out a wail that should have been able to wake the dead and Chip fought to keep his face from contorting into an ugly cry. Mal felt an unfamiliar chill force its way through her bones at their guttural reactions. All of the air seemed to be sucked out of the room and even Beast's rough hold on her loosened.

"Save her!" Evie shouted at her, the only one in the room seemingly still angry. "You know enough magic to save her so do it!" She growled, and Doug stepped forward and began to pull her back, but she fought him off. "If you want to best your mother you have got to have enough magic to save her!" She continued to yell, and Mal just stared as she tried to fight off her own grief, a feeling she wasn't used to.

"If you save her," Adam's solemn voice came from behind her, his grip loosening even more, "I will restore your rights in the barrier," He explained, then he sighed. "I will let you take expeditions out with Evie and Doug, but you must come to me if and when you wish to go find Ben."

It wasn't much better than she had requested before, but he was beginning to break and Mal could see that, but to be allowed to go out with Evie and Doug? Not a chance in hell. She had held a grudge against Princess Blueberry for nearly a decade, and she could feel a second one starting the more Evie shouted at her.

"I can't," Mal repeated. "I don't know how to resurrect the dead and the Charlie you get back could be someone you don't recognize," She warned. Necromancy was a line that she wasn't sure she ever wanted to cross, and she wouldn't be forced into it so easily by the prospects of a taste of freedom every now and again.

"Try, you coward!" Evie shouted, the only one bold enough in the room to challenge her it seemed. "Give her years of your life, you owe her that much." Mal glared at her and Evie glared right back. The rest of the people in the small room staring at the two of them.

Mal turned her attention to the little girl's body, looking as if she were only asleep, besides the blue lips. Then she turned back to the rest of them and Evie. "If I do this, I never want to see you again," She demanded, "I want you to go as far away as you can, and you can die for all I care," She growled, feeling the familiar warm anger rise up within her, but she kept it under control the best she could.

"If you can do it," Evie challenged her.

That was good enough for Mal. She moved over to the body that was once Charlie and pulled the stinger of the bee from her wrist, then ran her hands over the wound itself, healing the skin, reducing the swelling and drawing out the venom of the insect. That was the easy part, the next part would take every bit of magical knowledge she had.

Mal ran her fingers through Charlie's hair, brushing it from her forehead and placing her palm against her forehead and the other hand against her little chest and the heart that no longer beat. She used the anger that surged through her skin as a baseline and felt the emotions and the life within the little girl's memories that she had been shown.

The redheaded woman that had to be her mother and the warmth that came from her arms.

The elation of Ben and the wheelbarrow.

The anticipation of waiting for freshly baked cookies with grandma and Ben.

The anxiety and excitement of meeting someone new to the castle with purple hair.

The laughter and fun and happiness that had come from their tea party,

The deception and hurt of Ben forgetting her birthday in favor of the fake Mal.

The absolute fear that came from Ben's transformation and Mal's fall into what looked like death.

The several emotions that came from the swift changes in the kingdom, each little one adding more fuel to the soul that was Charlie.

Her last views of the meadow and the grove of flowers, a peaceful floaty feeling and then the terror of the bee landing on her and the pain of its sting against her flesh.

Charlie let out a loud wheezing gasp beneath her, bolting up from the table.

Mal ran.

She expected Evie or Beast or at least someone to follow her. Jay to try and catch her to calm her down, Carlos to sing her praises and try and convince her that Evie wasn't so bad. Maybe even Fairy Godmother to try and convince her of her goodness. She didn't know who it was just yet but she was about to give them an earful.

She hoped it was Evie so she could really let her anger reign supreme. She turned, ready with a verbal whipping that would put her mother to shame, only to see Doug. The words died on her lips, lost to the shock of seeing the unexpected before her.

The year and a half that she had missed had taken the gentleness from his face, making the line of his jaw harder and his eyes deeper. He looked tired, they all did, and aged way beyond his years. Where he had been slight during their time at Auradon Prep, he had filled out, most likely due to the strenuous work both inside and outside the barrier. He was barely a fraction of the Doug she had known, and she quickly covered her surprise by keeping her face neutral, with just a hint of malice. It had scared him before he had become a beefcake.

"I'm not here to stop you," he began when he seemed to realize she wasn't going to say anything. "You have enough people telling you what to do," He continued gently. "You can run as far as you want, banish Evie, and not choose to save Ben, that's ok with me," He told her and she just stared, the words caught in her throat. His words were genuine.

No one had ever told her that her choices were ok and that meant a lot. She wanted to respond with something heartfelt and gentle. Even though Doug looked like a wrestler, the muscles in his arms large and defined, she knew that he was still the same Doug on the inside. He continued before she got the chance.

"I want you to stay, and to not be so harsh on Evie," He continued, "And I prefered Ben as king to your mother, but I can't make your choices for you." She kept her eyes on him, wondering just what he was trying to do. "But before you make any decisions, you should know the truth about Evie and I."

Mal rolled her eyes, the mention of Evie making her want to tear the forest apart with her fury. "I don't want to know how often you 'slay the dragon' or whatever the newest code for sex is these days," She answered. "I saw it enough when we were in school."

Doug laughed, his smile still the same from their time at Auradon Prep. "That's not what I'm trying to tell you," He answered, and she could see the slight blush coming to his cheeks.

Mal couldn't help the small smirk that came to her face. She had to admit there was something calming about Doug. "What else could you possibly want to tell me about your relationship with Princess Blueberry?"

"It wouldn't have happened without Ben," Doug admitted, not even trying to censor his name.

"Well duh!" Mal answered, "If he hadn't made that proclamation to bring us over, you never would have met." If that was his advice, she was severely disappointed.

"That's true." Doug answered, "But that's not what I mean," He explained. "After Family Day I wasn't sure if she would be worth it." Mal cringed at the mention of Family Day, even though it was years earlier the physiological scars still remained. "Even though you all had chosen good, I was still scared." Everyone was still scared of them for a while after. "Ben was the one who advised me to ask Evie out," He admitted.

"I thought I was the one that gave you the advice to ask Princess Blueballs out," Mal answered, enjoying the nickname that she had come up with.

"You did give me advice," Doug answered, "But it was Ben's advice that really pushed me in the right direction."

"What could he have possibly said that was better than my advice?" Mal finally asked after a few long seconds of thought.

Doug just continued to smile. "It was during Mock Council and we were talking about how each state would handle the VKs and the possible disbanding of the Isle, if it ever came to that option," He explained. "He looked right at me, the delegate for Charmington, and said: We have the chance to lead into the future, who to lead the best example but us?"

Mal stared at him. That couldn't be better advice than what she had given him. She had told him the exact formula to Evie's heart and some cushy "we are the future" monologue had swayed him?

"I knew exactly what he was talking about," Doug continued, before Mal could interrupt him. "Not the future disbanding of the Isle, but the acceptance of the VKs and having feelings for them. He and I are the same in that way," He added.

Mal scoffed. "That was better than my advice of how to woo her down to the minute?" She asked.

"It was more heartfelt," Doug decided, then broke into another smile. "After the actual mock council he gave me advice similar to yours." Mal couldn't wait to hear that one. "The boys had recruited me as a neutral third party to see how Ben was doing and he was frustrated at the fact that you were so calm and collected and that he was struggling so hard to not break and admit anything before you did." Doug laughed. "I didn't even have to ask and he gave me a rant as we packed up the mock council stuff."

Mal could practically see it on her mind's eye as Doug described it. "He told me that all I had to do was take her in my arms, kiss her hard, then tell her how much she means to me." He laughed again, "Then he got all flustered since he started mentioning your features and forgetting he was talking about Evie and me." Mal could definitely imagine that.

Then he seemed to shift back into the present. "Anyway," he continued, his face falling back into a neutral line, "That's all I wanted to tell you. I'm returning the favor, giving you a little advice." Then he turned back the other direction as she heard the door squeak loudly open from the medical supply. No doubt someone looking for her.

She ran, morphing her features into the blonde haired, Princess Bertha as she darted through the barrier. She didn't care if it alarmed and if Beast sent Shang and the other barrier guards after her, she needed to get away.

She needed to escape the shock of what she had just done, the true magic she possessed.


	9. Chapter 9

Mal's eyes popped open as a loud, ragged howl sounded in the night. She was up in a tree, curled up in one of the nests another squirrel had vacated due to the cold weather, enjoying her freedom and the surge in her magic, the potential that had been opened up to her after she had resurrected Charlie.

She had spent the last few days wandering the forest looking for anything useful, anything to sustain her. She refused to go back to the barrier and admit defeat. She could best her mother all on her own, forget about Ben, and send all of the stuffy royals to the Isle of the Lost instead. She would be the rightful Queen and get her revenge on all of them. She would be Queen, she just had to set everything in motion first.

She hopped down from the tree, morphing into a fox as she did, and then began exploring the forest. Whatever had howled wasn't any normal animal, but some kind of supernatural being. She could feel the magic sizzle in the air as the howl had forced its way through the trees. She knew exactly who it could be, but she hoped it was another magical user, one that could teach her things not found in books or modern society. Talk to her about their personal type of magic.

Her mother had taught her that magic came from emotions and the soul within. Fairy Godmother (what little she had taught of magic) had taught that magic came from the intense wishes of pure souls. Meredith talked about how magic came from the elements and the earth and everything natural. Mal didn't know what was quite right, where magic really came from, but she knew she was coming into her magic in her own way. She knew she had to discover her own magic for herself.

Running through the forest as several different animals was freeing. As each different type of animal, their senses and the way they viewed the forest, it opened her perspective of the earth and the sky and the trees themselves. Everything was different as each species and she had yet to find one that she disliked.

The trees were dense and the underbrush was lush under her fox feet as she darted through the trees toward the howl. She knew it wasn't very safe to follow the howl, but she had to know just who or what had made such a mournful sound. She had to know what had sent such magic through the forest.

She had to know if it was Ben.

She shook the thought from her head violently as she darted through the trees. She couldn't keep thinking about Ben, or what she had caused, the promises he had given her, or the happiness that had been roughly ripped away. She couldn't keep living in a fairytale.

A familiar melody met her ears and she darted into a bush, down low to the ground, avoiding any wayward eyes as they passed.

 _Through the mist,_

 _Through the woods,_

 _Through the darkness and the shadows,_

 _It's a nightmare but it's one exciting ride._

She watched as they passed, their boots caked with mud, their very human musk disrupting the tranquility of the forest. They were on the hunt, as Audrey had told her, and she knew she couldn't let them keep disrupting the true masters of the forest. She had to stop them somehow.

Their song continued, but Mal's fox ears didn't miss the shriek of a young boy and the subsequent concern of a few of the weaker men and boys.

"Leave him," Clayton's aged voice called out and Mal could see the concerned boys and men turn to his command and straighten up. "He will only slow us down!"

"Onward to kill the beast!" Gaston's call followed and the rest of the boys rallied cries back and continued on their way.

Mal stayed where she was for several long minutes as the rest of the mob moved away and their song died away to the sounds of the forest at night. Once the mass of bodies moved away, she could see the young boy that had been left behind. His sobs the only unnatural sound of the forest.

He couldn't have been past his thirteenth year, his cheeks still chubby as large crocodile tears rolled down them, leaving trails on his dusty cheeks. His leg was trapped in a bear trap, the rusted iron teeth gripping the flesh of his leg, the muscles and skin ravaged further as he tried to escape. He was only making it worse as he tried to pull himself free to catch up with the rest of them.

She was content to just let him suffer. He had been with them, the mob that had ruined her forest and was working for her mother. But then, a realization struck her. With his help, she could infiltrate the mob and send them back to whence they came, determine her mother's plans and the best way to best her and take her rightful place.

She retreated behind a few of the thicker trees and transformed herself back into a human with blonde hair like sunshine and full cherubic cheeks. The vision of an angel, if one had ever been seen. Then she pulled the air of gentleness from the bottom of her heart and presented herself to the small boy.

He nearly shrieked in fear as soon as he saw her and she couldn't help but smile. At least she could still invoke fear. Still, she kept the gentleness about her. She didn't want him scared for too long.

"What is your name, child?" She asked, her voice gentle and soft. She had to get him to trust her.

"Are you an angel?" He asked, his eyes focused on her, his attention finally pulled away from the gruesome trap around his leg. "Am I going to die?" He asked.

Mal didn't answer him right away. "I am just a simple sprite of the forest," She lied. Anything to get him to open up, "Tell me your name so I can help you," She requested, closing more of the distance between them and kneeling next to him.

"I can't remember my real name," The boy confided in her quicker than she expected. "Everyone else calls me Snot."

How lovely. Mal tried to keep her composure as she listened to him. "How old are you?" She asked him. The more details she could get from him, the better.

"I'm twelve ma'am," He answered and she tried not to look too shocked at his use of "ma'am".

"Where were you from before?" Mal asked, trying not to let the closeness of the iron affect her too much. She had to convince him that she was trying to get him out of the trap.

"Atlantia Bay," He answered and Mal nodded along feigning interest. "But after the Mistress of All Evil took over, I lost my parents in the chaos." So she wasn't the only one who had lost something. Would anyone be looking for him once the smoke cleared? "My brother and I joined the mobs to eat," He confided, "but honestly ma'am, I want things to be happy again."

Mal tried not to let his story affect her too much. She placed a gentle hand against his cheek and stroked it gently, a facade of gentleness in his moment of weakness. "Yet, your brother and your mob left you here to die," She answered, moving closer still and sitting next to him, close enough to do what she needed to do.

"I would only slow them down," Snot answered, "They'll come back for me once the hunting game is done." Mal knew better than that.

She wished he was right, for his little innocent heart's sake, but she knew Gaston and Clayton didn't play by those rules. He was bound to die in that forest, he just didn't know it yet.

"Shall I wait with you?" Mal asked him, moving closer still, her hand still against his cheek. "The trap is quite stuck I'm afraid," She lied. "Tell me about your favorite memory," She suggested.

Snot seemed to have no trouble trusting her and that was undeniably clear. He was probably just happy for the attention. "I was eight and I-"

His words ceased as she twisted his head hard between her hands, breaking his neck, instantly killing him where he sat trapped. He was going to die in that forest anyway, she just sped up the process for her own gain.

She morphed into the boy that lay dead before her and the memory completed itself in her head.

He was eight and his father had come home from a long posting at the wall, watching over Auradon for any threats from the Isle or otherwise. He had brought the small boy and his older brother small trinkets from the fair that had been traveling through Auradon. He had said that was just the first part of the surprise.

That night he took the boys to the fair and won them more small trinkets. In the boy's pocket, Mal found the little silver trinket in the shape of a smiling owl, well worn from where the boy had rubbed it between his fingers, most likely when nervous.

The rest of his memories played through her head as she limped through the forest. If she was to infiltrate the mob as the boy, everything had to be as authentic as possible.

Catching up to the mob was not difficult. She fell into their ranks more toward the back with barely anyone else noticing. She hummed along with their tune as they all searched for any signs of the mystic beast, and let the pain of the boy's leg spur her on. They would have to go back to the castle and the surrounding areas soon anyway, right?

Even angry mobs had to take a break every once and awhile though, and it was as they rested in an overgrown area of the forest that anyone actually realized that Snot had rejoined them.

Mal, as the preteen boy, sat down on a fallen log as Clayton and Gaston and some of the older stronger boys scouted the best path for them to follow, her eyes running over each member of the mob and their actions, all while thinking about the body she has stolen. The young boy didn't have any strong relationships with any of them it seemed. Until the boy that Mal could only guess was his older brother, and a group of his friends found her.

"Snot!" He exclaimed as he knelt down before Mal and scooped up the small boy's body up into his arms. "I was so worried!" He continued as he sat next to her. "But you know we would have gone back for you." The way he said it made Mal almost believe him. "Or I would have," He added, and the rest of his friends didn't look so sure.

A scoff came from not too far away and both Snot's brother and Mal turned toward the sound. Mal tried to hide her surprise as she saw a very familiar face standing there. "You would have just saved yourself," The very familiar voice said as the teen brushed his dark hair from his thin face. "Your lies are as thick as your name, Mud."

"What would you know about it, Tremaine?" Mud, Snot's brother answered back, turning toward the familiar boy from the isle of the lost and her childhood.

"You've secretly been hoping he'll fail," Anthony Tremaine, looking nearly exactly the same as Mal remembered him with his dark hair and piercing eyes, called the other boy out. "Your weak parents saddled you with him, forced you to care for the boy that can barely hold his own."

"You take that back, Tremaine," Mud bellowed, "Or I'll make you eat dirt!"

So Anthony Tremaine and Mud were rivals. How interesting.

Anthony Tremaine hadn't changed one bit, and as he looked so calm and secure and in charge, Mal found herself wishing she had accepted his offer to dance while she and the others were still on the isle. He had a cool confidence that others in Auradon had lacked and Mal had missed that when she was away from the isle.

She toyed with the idea of revealing herself to him at some point, to form an alliance, but then her attention was pulled away.

"This way!" Gaston Jr. called from one of the less traveled paths. "The beast is close!"

Those words made Snot's body tense up around her and her own heart skip a beat in her chest, though she attributed it to excitement, nothing love related at all.

Snot took rank in the back of the mob again. That was his usual place, but Mal wanted to get closer to the front, closer to Anthony Tremaine and closer to view the mob's target. She knew he wouldn't be Ben, but she had a disgusting macabre urge to see how bad and ugly he had become.

Sooner than she expected, the mob all stopped and she ran headfirst into Snot's older brother as most of the boys seemed to stop and stare as Gaston, Clayton and their sons took the lead in securing the beast, their shouts and the jangling of chains the only hint that they were close. The bodies of too many of the other mob members blocking her view in the short child's body.

A loud anguished howl came from the field before them and Mal felt the shiver run up her spine and Snot's too. Snot had been scared of the beast in the forest, but Mal herself was quite interested. She pushed past the few tall men in front of them and stood where she could see, but not be seen by those engaged in combat. She was sure Ben's eyes would be the same, and that would just be too much.

Her first view of the beast was from the back. And as the mob had described, he was tall, with massive paws and killer claws, the thick muscles still visible under the thick matted dark fur as he fought off the chains and the weapons that Gaston, Clayton and their sons were attempting to capture him with. He turned, gripping on of the heavy chains hard with his outstretched hand and yanked Gaston the third toward him with pure strength, his long sharp claws narrowly missing Gaston the Third's surprisingly clean coat as he reached for him.

The beast turned his face toward the rest of the mob, ready with their weapons and whatever they could find on short notice it seemed, and Mal caught the first glimpse of his face.

He was anything but a pup. His large fangs snarled in a pure rage that was nearly tactile, as his large arms fought off the chains and the weapons the mob had brought. There was no trace of Ben left and Mal was thankful for that. Then his large blue beast eyes met Snot's, and hers and she stood frozen as one of the chains wrapped around his large muscled leg and a net was thrown around him. The mob had caught the beast.

But that was only the beginning.

Anthony Tremaine stepped forward, and from what Mal could see, he was full of rage and hate too, the cattle rod sizzling with electricity, taunting the beast. Judging by the reactions of the other members of the mob, and how Gaston and Clayton and their sons moved away once the beast was secured, it happened quite often. She watched closely, the best she could from the short body of Snot.

"What a fall from grace you've made," Tremaine taunted. "The perfect king of an entire nation with everything you could ever dream of to a beast subdued by a net, my cattle prod your only saving grace remaining." Tremaine always did have a flair for the dramatic. "Now the realization that you could die here tonight is beginning to hit you." He also had a flair for torture and Mal knew it was only going to get worse.

The beast of the forest roared as the cattle rod came in contact with his hide, but no one in the mob moved to either join in the torture or save him.

"What will be the last thing you see, I wonder?" Tremaine continued to taunt. "Will it be my face as my prod takes the last beats of your heart?" He asked, "Will it be the Mistress of All Evil when she took over and made you this beast?" He sent his prod into the beast's hide again, but the beast kept his strong silence. "Or will it be the face of the girl you couldn't save as she lay dead at your disfigured feet?"

The beast groaned in anguish, Tremaine's cattle prod not needed. Mal realized that Tremaine was taunting the beast with the idea of her, and that sent an icy anger through her body, and Snot's.

"I personally hope you don't have a chance to see anything but Maleficent's face as she kills you," Tremaine continued, shocking the beast a few more times in quick succession before he turned to the Gastons and Claytons. "He's all yours boys," He said, and Mal didn't miss his wicked smile through the cloud of her growing anger. "Take him to the Queen of Evil," He continued, pushing the cattle prod toward the beast's hide once more.

Then something happened. As the prod was about to make contact, a blow as forceful as when they used to be repelled by the barrier on the isle sent Tremaine flying back into the trees, giving the beast enough time to throw the nets and chains off as the rest of the mob stared. Mal kept her eyes on the beast as he disappeared into the trees as the rest of the mob either chased the beast or went to help Tremaine.

What had caused such a shift between them? Did the beast possess a strong magic too?


	10. Chapter 10

The beast had escaped yet again. The trek back to the province nearest to Maleficent's castle was much quieter and much more solemn than their expedition to find the beast. They passed by the real body of Snot, but Mal thought quickly on her feet and transformed him into a dead fox just long enough for the mob to pass. She wouldn't let her plan fall apart due to any small details, least of all a small twelve year old boy.

They didn't go back to the castle like Mal had hoped. Though they did do the next best thing: the richest province closest to the castle. It made her feel slightly uneasy after her last experiences in the castle and the province for that matter, but she knew what she had to do.

She had to know how things had been on the outside of the prison that once king Beast and his wife had kept her in. She had to know if her mother had any weaknesses as Queen of the now dilapidated Auradon. She had to find a way to snatch the kingdom from her. There was no way she was going to go back to her mother and grovel. She had spent most of her life seeking her mother's approval, but now she sought her mother's head and the crown it held.

There hadn't been much of a chance to explore the once rich province when the mob returned. Most of them went right to bed, and Mud pulled her toward a sad looking shack that they shared with four other orphans. Snot was by far the smallest, and the most coddled with all of the older boys sleeping around him, forfeiting their blankets, probably at Mud's insistence. He was sweet to his little brother, Mal noticed, but he tended to smother him.

News of his real brother's death would ruin him.

Though Mal tried not to think about that as she carefully navigated the tangle of arms and legs that were the teenage boys. She knew if she fell asleep, the shapeshifting would break and a handful of teenage boys would wonder what the hell a teenage girl was doing in their midst. Well, if they didn't already know who she was. She had to get back to the forest and renew her magic before her shapeshifting began to break and they noticed she wasn't the real Snot.

She kept the cloak of Snot as she left the small shack and moved noiselessly toward the border of the trees. No one else was awake, or should be, the sun was about to rise in the east and she knew she had limited time before the others started to miss the poor boy she had used. She just needed about an hour of time in her own skin. But she didn't want to risk transforming back and anyone seeing.

The sound of footsteps relatively close pulled her from her thoughts and she turned toward the noise, making herself invisible to anyone she didn't want to see her, which at that moment was anyone and everyone. She moved noiselessly toward the noise to see Anthony Tremaine preparing a horse for a ride somewhere and looking quite shady.

She followed him before she even decided she was going to follow him. He kept his eyes focused forward as he led the horse to the path into the trees, but Mal could see that his posture was nervous, scared of something. Once he was free of the large rich province, he hopped on the horse he had stolen and began galloping down the path.

Mal transformed herself into a raven and followed him, gliding through the trees and the tree branches, keeping just enough distance to keep her presence a secret. She knew she was nearly tapped out of her magic potential after being several forest animals for nearly a week and the boy for several hours, but she had to know where Tremaine was going and just what he was up to.

Several things about his interaction with the beast had irked her.

She followed him for what felt like several miles, through the trees and the dense forest, but at his pace on the horse, and her flight it didn't take them very long. She knew exactly where he was going as the stark stone towers of the palace and the tattered flags came into view and he crossed the drawbridge.

She flew for the roof. There was no way she was going to set one foot in that castle with her exhaustion and her magic flagging like it was. She was honestly surprised that she hadn't reverted back to herself mid flight and sank like a stone to the hard forest floor. Still, she landed on the roof of the castle and rested, hidden away from all eyes near and far. She reverted back to herself, Mal, purple hair and all and waited, panting and wiping the sweat from her brow. The last mile or so had been killer.

If she had to torture the information out of Tremaine later, she would.

Though luckily, she didn't have to. She could hear her mother's shouts escaping into the early morning air through the large sky window.

"YOU LET HIM GET AWAY AGAIN?!" Her mother's yelling was not something she had missed during her time in Auradon and it even made the barrier seem favorable. It was rare that her mother jumped past her cool anger and let her fury reign supreme. Whatever Tremaine had done, Mal didn't envy him.

Then they returned to hushed tones and Mal crawled forward to see if she could try and hear them better. She crawled to where she could see down through the sky window, but where she hoped they couldn't see her if they looked up.

Her mother was standing in front of the throne in the large ballroom, her fury pulled her to her feet, or so Mal guessed, her green fists balled in anger. Mal couldn't get close enough to see, but she was sure her eyes were the distinct shade of glowing green.

Still, Tremaine stood before her confidently. His dark hair perfectly in place, his face dedicated, with no trace of fear, or so Mal guessed.

"We almost had him," Tremaine reported, and Mal's gaze shifted to the very same glass case she had woken up in nearly two months earlier, where a very convincing double of her lay, most likely for Tremaine's benefit.

"You're not taking this seriously enough," Maleficent said, sitting back down on the throne. "Did I not explain it clear enough for you, or are you as empty headed as your mother?" She asked. "You want Mal to wake up again, don't you?"

There was no way Mal could just leave at that point. Just what was her mother planning and why did she need to dupe Tremaine into believing that she was still in her coma like state?

"I know you need him to wake her," Tremaine said, and Mal definitely didn't miss his biting tone, "but you're just going to have to wait a little longer." He wasn't about to give in to her mother's tactics. She had a feeling it was a conversation they had quite often, so Tremaine was used to it.

"Time is running out!" Maleficent snapped back at him. "I need you to find me the pup before he turns eighteen in less than six weeks," She seemed desperate for something from the beast, but Mal couldn't say what. "You must bring him to me!"

Mal was sure Tremaine was rolling his eyes. "We almost had him," He repeated. "But something blocked us from bringing him back. A kind of force field like what used to be on the island," He explained and even from up on the roof, Mal could see her mother's interest peaking.

"Tell me everything!" Maleficent demanded, standing from the throne again and approaching Tremaine. "If you leave out as much as one minute detail I will string you up by your toes and show you your worst nightmares."

Just from her quick reaction, Mal knew her mother knew something, and was quite obviously about to keep it from Tremaine. Still, Mal couldn't pull herself away, even though she had been there for the events that Tremaine described.

"Then the cattle prod went to shock him again but the instant before it touched, I was knocked on my ass," Anthony Tremaine explained. "And he got away," he admitted, his mouth a hard line of disappointment.

Even from the roof, Mal could tell her mother was thinking in the brief moments of silence between the two of them. Something had happened that she hadn't planned. "That little idiot somehow protected him," She realized, and Mal didn't have to look right at her to know she was pulling a face. "With love." Her mother drew out the word "love" in a disgustingly fake tone.

If there was one thing her mother hated more than anything else, it was love.

Mal knew she had to be talking about Fairy Godmother, or Belle. They loved the beast the most, right? They both knew about the curse way before anyone else did, well besides his father that had placed the curse himself.

"A protection spell then?" Tremaine asked. "That doesn't sound so bad," he boasted, "What better way to break a protection spell than by a little torture?"

Maleficent's fury erupted again. "YOU BLASTED IDIOT!" She screeched and Mal was sure she saw Tremaine flinch. "Everyone knows you can't break a protection spell with violence." She turned toward the glass casket where the fake Mal lie, looking as serene as ever. "You break it with more love." She stroked the case in a way that could almost seem loving, but Mal knew better than that. "Or deception." From there, Mal was sure her smile turned wicked.

She watched, leaning closer against the glass of the sky window to see if she could tell just who the her in the glass casket really was. The glass gave way under her weight, after years of sun damage and aging rivets and Mal found herself plummeting toward the exquisite stone of the once lavish ballroom.

In an instant, she transformed herself into the smallest bug she could think of, though her magic was flagging still. She knew the sound of shattering glass was going to alert her mother and Tremaine to someone's presence, but she hoped they had missed her grand entrance and the few feet she had fallen, long purple curls quite distinguishable. Still, she didn't stay around long to find out.

" _I need a place of safety,"_ she thought hard, not being able to speak as a gnat. She knew her magic was flagging, running out quickly, and if she wasn't careful she would be done for. Either by her magic being completely depleted, or by her mother and Tremaine catching up to her.

She wasn't sure which one she preferred.

" _I NEED A SAFE PLACE!"_ Her thoughts shouted, the only thing on her mind as she felt the pure exhaustion of too much magic use catching up with her.

She barely even opened her eyes as she hit the hard ground.


	11. Chapter 11

She wasn't sure what woke her first in the darkness, every muscle in her body aching, or the realization that she was about to face her doom. She jolted up from where she lay on the hard floor, every muscle in her body screaming in agony, and her eyes only met darkness.

She sat there for quite some time, waiting for her eyes to adjust to the darkness. No one was coming yet, but from what she could already tell without the use of her eyes, she was in a relatively small space. Most likely a cell.

She had most likely ruined any chance she had of taking over the kingdom and besting her mother as soon as she had been caught, and all because she had broken the number one rule of magic: Never Ever Use Too Much Magic at once. She had grown cocky and that had been her downfall.

Now her mother would get her revenge.

Though, in all honesty, her mother had been light years ahead of her from the very start. She had been foolish to think that her mother could be defeated. Mal had let love and friendship blind her to the point of being stupidly optimistic at unrealistic outcomes. If she was caught, there was no way she could save anyone, least of all herself, especially if her magic had run out.

Her muscles and bones screamed in protest as she stood up, too impatient for her eyes to fully adjust. She had to find out where she was. She had to at least try to come up with some kind of plan. Her mother was probably planning to kill her, but that didn't mean she had to go without a fight.

She put her hands out in front of her and headed for the edges of her confinement, however close they may be. She expected her fingers to hit stone, or iron, or something nearly impossible to break through. Instead, her fingers hit smooth wood and several thin examples of coarse fabric.

It wasn't that huge of a leap for her to realize she was in a library of some kind, but why? There was no way her mother had gone soft. Had her mother put her in the dark library to torture her?

No that couldn't be it, she realized as she wrapped her fingers around one of the books from the shelf in the darkness. If she was in the actual library, the vast library of Belle and her Beast, it would have been a much bigger space. The small space seemed cramped, but was still a library of some kind.

Her mother was excellent at casting mirages and pulling the deepest desires from the dark corners of someone's mind, then turning them sour, so Mal expected no less. Though she didn't feel the usual zing of power her mother's magic usually had, though perhaps if her magic was truly gone she would no longer feel that.

She still felt quite weak, but definitely stronger than she had been before she had passed out. If her magic was truly gone, she would have felt it. If her magic were truly gone, she would be dead. She tested her magic potential gently at first, bringing a tiny green flame to her index finger, then extended it to her palm, giving enough light for her to explore.

It was a library alright, all of the books' titles she recognized, most from her childhood. She extinguished the flame in her palm as soon as she realized exactly where she was. She was still in the castle, surrounded by a former boy's stupid declaration of what he had thought was love.

The memories ran rampant as she shut her eyes tight. The last time she had been in that room was with him, and she could feel the past strings of him lingering, never to return. She dropped the book in her hand and it fell to the wooden floor with a loud thump, illuminating the small lanterns on the walls as casting light before her eyelids.

She supposed it had been a safe place. No one supposedly knew about it, but her and the boy that no longer existed.

She had seen the beast with her own eyes. There was no coming back from that without some serious psychological damage. No man, no matter how strong he was, could get over being a beast as easily as one got over a cold. It just wasn't possible.

If she was going to try, she was going to need some serious magic. And even if she wasn't going to try on the beast, she could still use some serious magic. What faerie would willingly turn away from all the magic those books contained?

She willed her eyes open and looked around the small library again, only focusing on the titles of the books, not what had happened in that small room before. She ran her fingers across the worn titles and the magic and memories they contained. Her mother had spent several hours with many of them open in their abode on the isle, remembering her greatest feats and she had told Mal about so many of them. Now that Mal had the magic her mother had missed, she could improve on them.

If there was a way to best her mother, she would find it there, in her own books. Or she would die trying. It was her, or no one else.

The kingdom would be hers, and all the knowledge before her bound in books would be the way to do it.

She picked up the book she had let slip from her fingers, and began to read, skimming each page in a matter of seconds.

Thank goodness she still had her magic.

She couldn't help but smirk at that phrase as she continued to read.

Time had no meaning as she skimmed each and every book she could reach in that small library that was all hers and no one else's. The knowledge she absorbed within the first few books was enough to make her stronger than Meredith, Merlin and Fairy Godmother combined, in theory.

Each book had a different stance on where true magic and potential came from, but Mal absorbed the knowledge anyway. If she could absorb as much as possible, then make sense of it later, it would be easier.

As much as she wanted to take a break and return later, she knew her trip to the little library was most likely a once in a lifetime chance. Getting out would be tricky, getting back in, nearly impossible. As she reached for what could have been the hundredth or thousandth book, something forced her to stop.

The book itself was ordinary. The title self explanatory, the text normal as any other book. What made it extraordinary was the handwritten text in the margins.

Ben's distinctive left-handed scrawl and the memories it held.

His book of fairy tales.

She dared not skim it there and add it to her infinite knowledge of magic and its causes. Instead, she tucked the book under her arm and turned toward the ladder. Whatever she had gained would have to be good enough.

Perhaps she could return again by chance.

She climbed the ladder as herself, but once she got to the trap door, she chromosome shifted into Bertha, a form unrecognizable to her mother and made sure the library was unguarded, unattended.

Once she was sure, she climbed from the trap door and snuck over to the history section, where she knew the leg of the secret passage that would lead out began. She pulled the unmarked book and snuck into the dark tunnel.

There was so much exploring she could do, so much spying she could do on her mother, so she took her time in the tunnels, navigating them with silent steps, trying to listen for any sights or sounds of anything she could use against her mother.

The tunnels were oddly silent as she traveled in the dimmest light she could provide. She felt as though she could sleep for days and still need more time to regain her full magic potential, but there was no time for that.

There was no sight, nor sound of her mother either, or there was no one to be disappointed at, no one to dispel her fury toward. Mal didn't know how long it had been since she had shouted at Tremaine, or how long she had been in the library, but there was no sign of her mother at all.

The tunnel spit her out near Beast's old office, apparently she had taken the same route she had on the night of the reunion ball of the seven kingdoms. She figured she should turn back, try a different leg of the tunnels to try and escape the castle, but she also knew there could be some trinkets in Beast's office that could be of use.

So she did what any thief would do, she broke in.

The office had barely changed since Mal had seen it last. The only difference was, like everything else in the kingdom since her mother had taken over, it had become dirty and dark, a thick layer of dust covering everything.

The walls and walls of shelves full of trinkets and all of the pictures of him from the age of toddlerhood on, remained untouched. From the looks of things, Maleficent had never even been in that room before. Not that she had any need to. When the mistress of all evil wanted something, she did not write a law or decree, she just made it so.

The pictures of Ben throughout his childhood still stood exactly where they had been left, about a thousand of Ben's blue gray eyes staring back at her through a layer of dust. The one closest to her, one that she had taken when they had been forced together by her friends to take his pictures that would be all over the kingdom, promoting goodness.

She barely knew how to use a camera, and yet he had said they were some of the best shots he had ever seen. It was one of the pictures that almost didn't happen because he had nearly pissed her off so bad that she had almost left.

The picture had been one of her favorites that she had taken that day, and it hadn't even during their official photo session. It has been after, when she had already tried to leave, and then her plans had been dashed, forcing them to spend more time together.

The photo itself was nothing special, just Ben at a special diagonal angle, his blue grey gaze seeming to stare at her through the picture itself. He had been tired when she took that picture, they both had been, both to the point where exhaustion had made them less careful with their words. She had asked him a question, and he had answered, and that had been his honest face after his response.

Looking at the photo, she couldn't remember the question, or his answer, but his face looking back at her in the frame made her feel something she couldn't name deep in her chest. She pulled the photo from the frame and stuffed it in the book under her arm.

There had to be a use for it in a spell somewhere.

Then she practically ransacked the office, pulling the drawers from the desk and searching each one carefully for anything useful. In one of the top drawers, she found Beast's magic mirror and a tattered old map of the nearby provinces. She figured both would come in handy, so she took them with her.

From there, she turned to the bookshelves, pulling the massive volumes from the shelves and flipping through them, for both information and any small trinkets they could hold, her ear always trained toward the door for any sounds of movement nearby.

Most of the books were empty of any trinkets or anything hidden between the pages as she shook each one to see what came loose. Only one held a secret that fell loose to the wood floor without a sound.

It was a small photograph, a wallet print from the size of it, and perfectly preserved between the pages of a battered copy of _War and Peace_. It was a baby picture, but unlike any of the others that were displayed on the shelves behind the desk. The only thing that Mal recognized of the little beast in the photo, dressed up in a dark blue baby suit like the ones the navy used to wear decades earlier, were his eyes.

Ben as a baby beast.

Though that wasn't the most interesting thing about the photo. Where he sat looked quite familiar, a place she'd been before, but couldn't quite tell from that angle. A place in the castle maybe? Then she noticed the warped wood of the table leg next to him and knew where she recognized it from.

That had been the dining room table in the castle she had inhabited with her mother (on good nights at least). She knew that Belle and her Beast had taken Ben to Maleficent for help, but it hadn't really hit her until that moment. The picture was folded over, so just Ben's likeness was there, and Mal half knew what to expect if the setting was any indication, but she unfolded the photo anyway.

Her expectations were correct as she came face to face with herself as a toddler, wide eyed and curious at the sight of the camera, the iron rattle in her fist almost looking like a large mace more than a child's toy, but that was practically expected of villains and their kids. No toys, only weapons, and she guessed she had proved that according to Belle's story.

She figured after that picture was taken she had clobbered Ben with the rattle. She had seen the scar herself, though she hadn't realized what it was when she had first noticed it. She had had quite an arm as a toddler, and quite the weapon, thanks to her mother.

The slightest creak of a floorboard outside of Beast's office pulled her from her thoughts and the picture of Ben as a baby beast and her as- well just a baby. She stuffed it with the rest of her treasures and pulled the snow globe from the desk to reveal another secret tunnel. The knowledge of the secret tunnels starting to come in handy.

She didn't know exactly where that one led, but she looked forward to finding out. She pulled the panel under the desk closed behind her and left the castle, hoping she hadn't missed too much in the province close by.

She was still her mother's daughter by blood. She did still want her revenge.


	12. Chapter 12

The province was fully awake when she returned as the small boy, Snot. As she expected, his older brother, Mud, found her nearly instantly as she limped from the trees as the small boy.

"Snot!" She half expected the older boy to admonish her for running off. "I was so worried!" He yanked him into a hard hug. "Tremaine is totally plotting something like we thought," he whispered. "Wanna spy on him tonight?"

The memories of Snot's schemes with Mud played behind her eyes and she nodded. It was a nightly, or near nightly experience. Mud truly cared for his brother and Mal found herself feeling a little… regret about killing the young boy. In her experiences, with her mother, and everyone else on the isle, no one would go back for her if she were in that situation. Except…

Ben.

She shook the memory of him from her head, and brought her attention back to Snot and his brother, Mud. It would break his heart to know that his brother was dead. But luckily, Mal didn't have to think about that. She had wanted an escape from the barrier and she got it in the form of a twelve year old boy.

She wasn't about to let it go so easily.

The gash on Snot's leg was infected, Mal didn't have to be a doctor to know that. After nearly two weeks of being among them as the boy, Snot, it had become a full blown infection. The wound itself had never been cleaned, and the bear trap had been rusted and old already, and she highly doubted any of the people amongst the mob cared about cleanliness and healing wounds. She knew she could easily heal it with her magic (there wasn't anything she couldn't do with her magic at that point, she guessed), but she never found enough time alone from Mud, or the mob.

The mob went out almost nightly to taunt the beast, led by Gaston and Clayton and their sons, but Tremaine always got the most damage in whenever they were able to catch the beast. Though every time they did catch him, it wasn't for long. The beast had an excellent strategy of escape, and Mal expected nothing less. It was easier to think about the beast if she was able to forget that it was Ben. Each night, the pain in her leg only got worse.

She knew she would have to heal it eventually, but there just wasn't time. Then one morning she woke up as the boy, and she knew his body was starting to hallucinate with fevers, his body covered with cool sweats, his skin on fire.

She didn't have much time left with him, but even she was beginning to feel the effects of the infection. She would have to leave the province and Snot behind eventually. But she was not about to go to back to the border. She would face her mother, or live in the forest by herself she supposed.

After watching the mob and the beast, there seemed to be no way to reverse it, or no way she could hold back the mobs, where the beast, where Ben was involved. It was an impossible task.

Maybe she was better off without Ben.

Mud was a complete mess. He stayed the entire time by Snot's side, and Mal couldn't do any magic if she wanted to. He stayed and cared for him for three days, and then the intense fever dreams started. First, they were Snot's- bugs crawling on the walls, the beast of the forest chomping down on him with its huge jaws, the spooky dark things of the forest swallowing him whole, bear traps and rope traps scooping him up- then, they slowly began to become hers.

Poisoned apples putting her to sleep for millennia, the color pink, losing her magic and her drive to live. Ben! Ben as himself, the gold of the crown nearly blinding her in the bright sunshine of the forest. Sunshine and Ben, that was how she knew it was a dream. The color pink slowly materialized into Meredith and the dream became a complete nightmare.

"What are you doing here?" Mal asked as herself in the nearly too bright sunny forest. Ben had long disappeared, darting into the trees, and seeing and thinking about Meredith left a sour taste in her mouth. Thinking about any of the Auradonians left a sour taste in her mouth.

Meredith scoffed. "Way to greet your savior!" She said, sizing Mal up. "You're letting the boy's weakness overtake you and eclipse your magic," She explained. "If you don't hurry up, you'll die too." She looked Mal up and down again in the dreamy forest. "Though I would have no problem with that, I don't come on my own." She wasn't too pleased to be there and Mal could easily see that.

"Why are you here?" Mal asked, wanting to see more Ben than anyone else.

Meredith laughed. "I knew the idea of Ben would lure you to me!" She was quite pleased with herself. "Your father, you know King Arthur, Old fart that has more magic over him than the damn barrier?" She asked, "He requested I find you and invite you back civilly to the barrier." She didn't seem too excited about the prospect of Mal, but Mal knew the feeling was mutual. "It's not like you have anywhere else to go after the kid dies," she added.

Mal scoffed. "Yeah, like I would go back to the barrier just like that." She rolled her eyes. "They do know I'm the daughter of Maleficent, right?" She asked, "That I could magic them all back into housewares should it tickle my fancy?"

Meredith sized her up again. "There is something different about you," she decided, "But that usually happens when you cross the line into the true darker magics. Once you murder an innocent." She gave Mal a smile for the first time in the dream sequence. "Dark arts look good on you, kid."

It was Mal's turn to scoff. "Kid?" she asked, "I bet I can magic you off your feet now."

Meredith laughed. "You'll never know until you come back."

Snot died a few days later and as Mal expected, Mud was a complete wreck. She wished she could do something for him, but she knew better than to alert him, or any of the other members of the mob that there was magic afoot, so she laid still in his body as the younger boys dug a small ditch and then buried Snot's body there, and her under all of the dirt.

It felt like an eternity in the darkness, the dirt filling her mouth and nose and crumbling around her every second she tried to move. She knew she had to wait until the perfect moment to break loose and return. She didn't know if she was going to go just for King Arthur or to kick Meredith's ass, but both were pretty good incentive. She had wanted to talk to King Arthur for years, but she had never thought to approach him. Meredith ceeding to her would be an added bonus.

She knew the moment was perfect when she heard the mob began to chant their taunting call to the beast.

 _Through the mist_

 _Through the woods…_

She dug herself out of the fresh grave, never so pleased to be back in her own body, the purple hair, clotted with dirt and sweat, never such a welcome sight. She was covered in dirt, it clung to her clothes and her skin and it permeated all of her senses but she knew she had to catch up to the mob.

She shifted herself back into the beautiful angelic figure, and ran around the mob. They had to run into her first. She had to catch their attention.

And catch their attention, she did.

 _It's a beast_

 _He's got Fangs_

 _Razor sharp ones..._

The mob all stopped at the same time, staring at her, looking like the most beautiful woman, an angel, though her black heart laughed at that thought. They all stared, and it was quite obvious they hadn't seen a woman in quite a long time. But none of them did anything.

"A beast?" She asked, her voice too gentle, too soft, too good to be hers. She sounded almost scared, but it only drew them in more, all hanging on her every word. "With fangs and razor sharp claws?" She sounded too cute and she needed to make up with it for something evil. "You mean like this?!" She asked, her voice growing darker, forcing herself to transform into a dark faerie.

They didn't start screaming and shouting in fear until she sent the first flashes of magic their way. She had to give the beast time. She had to get revenge for what she had seen them do. It didn't take much to disfigure them, break their legs so they couldn't continue, rip their arms from their chests, the immediate bloodloss enough to make them too weak to continue. Any number of injuries and torture, anything to keep them from causing terror in the forest, to the beast and the native animals.

Gaston and Clayton tried to stand their ground, but ended up escaping with minimal injuries. Tremaine stayed and she broke one of his legs before he began to crawl away. She pounced on him. She hadn't planned on it, but she got carried away in the moment.

She grabbed him by his shirt hard, pulling him up from the ground and catching his gaze. "You tell Maleficent that I'm coming for her!" Then she threw him to the ground before he could say anything else, the sheer force of his head hitting the forest floor knocking him out.

Then she turned to Mud, the only mob member she hadn't injured. She returned to the blonde angel, but he still backed away in fear, crawling on his hands and knees. "I'm sorry about your brother," She said, finding the words felt sincere in her chest for the first time in quite a while. "He rests with the forest spirits and they will keep him safe. I'm sure of it."

Then she transformed into a gust of leaves and blew away on the wind toward the barrier trees.


	13. Chapter 13

Her body felt strange as she walked closer to the barrier, like she wasn't in control of anything anymore, and then she realized it was the fear. She had no idea what to expect once she entered the barrier. Who would be there, how they would react to her. It was a huge gamble.

Luckily, she didn't have to wonder for too long. Several feet before the barrier trees, she could see an old crumpled figure sitting on a gnarled stump. King Arthur.

She instantly armed a spell in her palm. She knew all about his homicidal tendencies toward his children. She approached him carefully, trying to decide if she should sneak up on him and keep the upper hand, or not, but he already knew she was there.

"There will be no need for magic here," he spoke before she was even sure he had seen her. His voice was marked with age, a kind of gruffness that she hadn't expected, yet still had a hidden youthful quality to it. "I only want to talk."

Mal weighed her options as King Arthur, her father, pat the spot next to him on the fallen tree. She had wanted to talk to her father for years, ask him several questions, find out what she had done to make him leave, and what it was that made him tick, and now that the opportunity had presented itself, she was scared. Then again, it was King Arthur, the man of legends, the killer of his own children.

After several long seconds, she came out from the trees and dropped the spell from her hand. She was completely defenseless and she was sure he preferred it that way. She took slow deliberate steps toward him and his fallen log and finally sat a good arm's length away from him.

"You look so much like your mother," King Arthur spoke after several long seconds of silence between them. Mal was used to hearing that after the years on the Isle and the months in Auradon. "I imagine she didn't talk too much about me?" He asked.

She shook her head. "Just that you were a weak human man," Mal finally spoke, her eyes trained on him and his wrinkles and his thin white hair. He did look quite weak for a human. "I know now that she cast a love spell over you," she added. "Just to seduce a child out of you." No one had ever told her anything directly about King Arthur being her father until she had figured it out on her own.

King Arthur laughed and it took her off guard. She didn't expect him to laugh ever. "Did your mother tell you that?" He asked gently and Mal forced herself not to think about Ben and the gentleness he had shown her. "Or was it someone else?"

Mal found her guard dropping. There was something gentle about King Arthur, something about him made her want to trust him. "What does it matter?" Mal asked, trying to keep her cool edge. She knew she shouldn't trust anyone so easily ever again. "It's true isn't it?" She asked. "What other reason could there be to bed the Queen of all things evil?"

King Arthur was quiet for a long time after that. The barrier was silent too, from what she could tell, Though even with her increased magic she couldn't see through it. "The same reason you wanted to break the promise with Ben," He answered.

"And what reason is that?" Mal asked. She could feel the ice course through her veins at the mention of Ben. It was always easier to be angry rather than sad.

"Love," King Arthur answered.

Mal stared for several seconds. She didn't know him that well, but perhaps Belle and her Beast had put him up to the whole thing. "Love?" She scoffed. "Well of course! She had you under a love spell! Just like I had Ben under one!" It was the first time she had said his name out loud in quite a while. It hurt, but she hid it behind anger, as she always had. "My mother is not capable of love and neither am I! I turned him into the beast that roams the forest!" She hadn't meant for that last part to come out, and yet it had.

"Anyone is capable of love," he answered. "Even your mother," He continued. "I loved her when we were children and the only spells she could do then were flower crowns."

Mal couldn't even imagine it. She had always known her mother to be hard, and violent. Flower crowns? "So what happened?" Mal asked, suddenly interested.

King Arthur sighed, his face falling from the gentle smile and into a hard line. "I became king and-"

"And what?! You decided that she wasn't your type?!" Mal shouted at him, jumping to her feet. It all sounded familiar. Ben had tried that on her, but she had already spelled him before that. It had worked out between her and Ben, for a while at least. "You wanted someone like a princess? Someone more Queen material?! Someone like Guinevere!"

King Arthur rose to his feet too. "That wasn't it at all." He didn't shout, but his voice held a strength that his body hadn't seemed to have in years. Mal found herself stunned into a silence. The words of Kings held power no matter if the title was only in name or not. He sat down slowly and pat the fallen log again. "The history books don't always get it right, you know." He said gently. "If you let me, I'll tell you my side of things."

Mal thought about it. Why should she stay and listen to what her father had to say? Why shouldn't she just find Meredith and kick her down like Meredith had before? Or better yet, why not go find Belle and her beast and usurp them and take over rule of the barrier and eventually all of Auradon? "Why?" She asked. "The past is the past. What good would it do if I'm just going to take the rule from her anyway?"

King Arthur kept his eyes on her. "You're a smart girl, Mal," he finally said after what felt like an eternity of silence. "You've probably heard that history repeats itself?" He asked. She had heard it, but that didn't mean she had to answer him. "Those that don't understand are doomed to repeat it?" He asked.

She had heard that too. "It's a little late for a history lesson, don't you think?" Mal asked, trying to keep the malicious bite in her voice. He may have been her father, and a king, but that didn't mean she had to submit to him. "I've already spelled Ben, made him a beast roaming the forest, and my mother has the entire kingdom. History can't help us! We're all royally fucked!" She didn't miss how he jumped at her crudeness.

"We might be," King Arthur answered, "or we might not." Mal raised her eyebrows. He couldn't know something she didn't. She knew everything there was to know about her mother, didn't she? "It all depends on you, my dear."

It was the first time anyone had used such a term of endearment with her and it struck her. She sat back down. "How?" Mal asked, her harshness crumbling and her interest peaking.

King Arthur laughed, the smile across his face with the same dimples that matched hers. She jumped as his hand rested on her shoulder, no one had touched her so gently since...Ben. "How long until his birthday?" He asked. Mal looked down at the pocket watch around her neck. "Tell me without looking at the watch," he suggested.

Mal sighed. "34 days, 6 hours and-" she paused. "12 minutes give or take." It was a complete guess, or so she thought.

"You're off by five minutes," her father told her. "And the fact that you know it nearly down to the minute is proof that it is all up to you." He turned the watch toward her, the dials spinning faster, time was dwindling and she knew it.

"It counts down to when I will be Queen." Mal shrugged his hand from her shoulder. "That doesn't prove anything about Ben," she tried to answer. It still hurt to think about him.

The dimples remained on King Arthur's face. "There it is!" He said. "You can choose to help Ben, or you can attempt to stop your mother yourself." She knew that and she knew her own plans. "What you decide, determines the fate of everyone in Auradon. Whether you save Ben or not, it affects everyone. Whether you go for your mother, it affects everyone. Your choice, Mal." He stood up and started hobbling toward the barrier. "Don't make the same mistakes I made."

Mal stayed seated and watched as her father hobbled away toward the tallest trees in the forest. Then she realized. "Wait!" She called, running to chase after him.

The Opportunity might not come again.

King Arthur turned.

"What happened between you and my mother?" She asked, biting her lip. King Arthur was such a mystery and she couldn't let it go.

She just hoped she hadn't forced him away.


	14. Chapter 14

"I loved her," King Arthur admitted. "I still love her," He continued, and Mal could see it in his eyes. Even though it was only from a love spell, or as far as she knew.

"Before or after the love spell?" Mal asked, unable to stop herself.

"Both," King Arthur answered. "We grew up together in the same area as children and she would make me flower crowns and lead me through the trees," He let out a short laugh. "She introduced me to all of the forest sprites and we were going to rule the forest together. She loved me, even when I was just Wart." Even she had to smile at that.

"Then what happened?" Mal asked, completely enthralled in his story. He definitely had a way with words. "You became king and wanted to rule more than the forest?" She scoffed, but it was weak.

"I wanted to marry her before I became king," he explained. "Before Merlin swooped me away," He admitted. "Then when I pulled the sword and became king, everything got muddled."

"The history books say you married Guinevere right after you pulled the sword." She was surprised how much she remembered from history class. "That you married her for wealth."

King Arthur laughed hard. "I never loved Guinevere," He admitted, "Not the way I love your mother." He regained his composure. "But Merlin deceived us both and that was our downfall."

"She let her rage consume her and cast the love spell over you," Mal realized.

King Arthur nodded. "On my wedding night," He answered. "She was the scariest thing I had ever seen, her horns large and gnarled, her skin green and mottled, full of rage, and yet she was still the most beautiful woman I have ever known."

Mal laughed, but Ben had had the same reaction. Full faerie was supposed to make people run the other way, not love them. "You're insane," she said.

"I'm in love." King Arthur answered. "And I will never not be in love with your mother, whether it's a spell or not."

Mal couldn't believe that he was so weak, that he was so gentle compared to everyone else. Except Ben.

Were all kings fools?

"You don't know?" Mal asked, shocked. "Why did you give in so easily to Merlin's wishes if you claim to have loved my mother so much?" She finally asked.

"The spell doesn't matter." His thoughts seemed further away. "Merlin threatened the one thing I knew your mother loved more than she would ever love me," He explained. "He had the influence and the means to scorch her forest to the ground and I didn't want to put her through that."

Suddenly his lesson hit her like a slap to the face. "You think you made the wrong choices turning my mother into what she is today?" She asked. "If only you had married her and had beautiful Faerie children to rule the forest forever and ever." She scoffed. "If you hadn't of scorned her we wouldn't be fucked right now."

"Maybe," King Arthur answered. "But if I hadn't, your mother wouldn't have had you, and Ben and everyone else would never have a chance against Maleficent."

A crow sounded loudly somewhere in the tall trees and Mal turned toward the sound out of reflex. Her mother's damn bird had been years worth of psychological damage. "She knows we're here," she spoke, her eyes trained on the trees. "She's looking for me."

"She has a lot to lose whatever choice you make," King Arthur answered.

Mal turned back toward him, her father. "How are you my father if my mother was already trapped on the isle for four years before I was conceived?" She asked. That was the one thing that hadn't made sense to her.

King Arthur smiled, and those same dimples appeared. "Merlin was the ambassador to the Isle and I went with him as a way to distract myself from King Beast's terrible policies." Mal laughed. At least they agreed on something. "I snuck away when I had the chance and your mother's love spell kicked in and we-" he paused, a pained look on his aged face. "-did things."

"Had sex," Mal corrected him.

King Arthur's eyes grew wide. "You're not having sex are you?"

Mal raised her eyebrows at him. "If I couldn't kiss my boyfriend because of an idiotic promise he made, why would I be having sex?" She asked.

"I'm new to the whole parenting thing," King Arthur admitted with a shrug.

"Tell that to Mordred and your other sons," Mal answered. "You don't have to be gentle with me," she continued. "I know you don't want anyone to take your title from you."

King Arthur laughed yet again. "They weren't my children," He answered. "And I did what I had to to ensure that my line endured, not that pigeon-toed, bulk of an ass Lancelot's."

Mal found herself thinking of the more emotional, more raw questions. "Did you know about me?" She asked. "Did you ever want to find me and take me away from there?"

King Arthur focused on the underbrush on the dry cracked forest ground. "I had no idea until I saw you chromosome shift before you left the barrier," he explained. "I thought your mother had just cursed me because I never saw her again after that." All men had to have some degree of idiocy. "Mal," He began again after several long seconds. "If I had known-"

"Save it!" She answered too quickly. She didn't want to think about what if's or anything like that. "Tell me about the love spell." She needed some information from him, whether she wanted to save Ben or not. "How do you know-" She stopped, that wasn't the right question. "Are you angry with her for casting the spell over you?" She asked. "Do you want to hate her?"

So maybe she did want to know, for Ben's sake. Maybe it might make her feel a little better. Even if she didn't choose to save him, or if he didn't want to be saved.

King Arthur was quiet for a short while. "I wouldn't say I'm angry," He answered. She knew he was choosing his words carefully. Or perhaps the love spell made it difficult. That was more likely, Mal realized. "I regret that things happened the way that they did, that she thought she had to love spell me," He continued. "But I understand why she did it, and I wish she hadn't had to do it that way."

She couldn't help but wonder if Ben had felt the same way.

"I could never hate her," King Arthur continued. She knew that was the love spell talking. It was nearly unbreakable it seemed.

"Would you want the spell broken, could it be broken?" She asked, nearly unable to stop herself. "Do you think that you would still feel the same about her if it was?"

King Arthur chose his words carefully again. "Love spells are tricky alone, but if there are already feelings involved it gets near impossible to separate the two." Mal kept her eyes on him. How did he know so much? He had probably researched it as much as she and Ben had, If Not more. "There is some research that if there are already feelings there, there's what's called the bounce back."

Mal stared at him. "The what?" She asked.

"There are several magic theories about love spells when the victim is already feeling feelings," King Arthur explained, but Mal had already gathered as much. "The most prominent one is referred to as bounce back or blow back. The magic of the spell is strong, but it has nowhere to go, since the intended already feels for the caster. So it bounces back onto the caster." Mal stared. "Merlin thinks that's why your mother was so lenient in her curse against me."

Did that mean that her spell had hit her too possibly? If Ben felt for her before the spelled cookie as he and everyone else had said, did it bounce back onto her and make her feel the things she had.

Why was it all so confusing?!

"What do I do now?" She asked, suddenly feeling like she needed some fatherly advice, or really any advice at all. She could magic Ben again, she realized, but he had already been magicked enough and if would just bounce back to her if what the theories thought was true.

King Arthur looked at her as if she had asked him for the world and he was all too happy to give it. "That, my dear, depends entirely on what you want." He seemed to enjoy giving her cryptic advice. "But I suppose whatever you choose, you should know that the line of kings does not allow for Kings to be recoronated."

She stared at him. "Even if I save Ben, he can't be king?" She asked. Why had no one else told her that?

King Arthur shook his head quickly. "Ben never formally denounced the throne, it was taken from him by force. The crusades of old lasted for so long due to the fact that no one ever formally denounced their thrones." What was the point of the history lesson? "Ben never denounced the throne, but his father, Former King Adam did." She stared at him, trying to take it all in. "Should you want to return to the barrier, you should have no problem due to the bloodlines."

Mal cursed loudly. She knew exactly what King Arthur, her father, was trying to say. "I'm the fucking princess of shitsville!" She exclaimed.

King Arthur nodded. "If you want it, of course," he continued. "You have held more power from the moment he denounced his throne and he's known it."

"But Ben-" she started.

"Was never meant to be a king," King Arthur spoke with a knowing glint in his eye.

"You know?" She asked.

"It's the worst best kept secret, kiddo," He explained. "Adam and Belle think no one else knows but who needs to know, but it's everywhere." Then he said something that surprised her. "I'm surprised no one rioted before your mother. There are those that disagreed and loudly."

She hated to admit that she was almost scared. "If I bring him back, restore him to the crown, those people wouldn't be very happy, would they?" She asked, knowing that well enough.

Would she want to face that? Have to protect him, or watch him be cooped up against his will?

"I doubt it," King Arthur answered, "But no matter who rules, someone is always unhappy."

He had a point. There would be those that weren't very happy if she took over being queen as well. Either way, there would be dissenters and it would be nice to have someone the people mostly trusted by her side, even if it wasn't love.

If she chose to save him.

She still had time, right?

* * *

Stepping through the barrier trees felt like stepping into a sweater that was too small, nearly suffocating for those few short seconds as she adjusted. She expected the barrier to alarm to her return and gather basically everyone, but nothing of that sort happened. She was just alone near the barrier trees as the few citizens of the barrier sorted, or gossiped about other things besides her, or perhaps her, she couldn't be sure.

Still, it was as if no one had noticed her return.

She was still surprised that the barrier had let her in at all.

She squared her shoulders as she had seen Ben do when he made official orders, standing taller than she had in a long while, as if she held a crown on her head, or maybe the immense magic knowledge and the weight of the line of kings on her shoulders.

Then she took a deep breath and hoped for the best.

"King Beast!" She shouted loudly, the sheer authority that flowed through her, and the magic powerful as her call echoed all around the barrier, and rushing back to her. "As the future Queen of Auradon, I command you meet me!" She continued, forcing her heels into the dirt to keep from falling over from her own force.

Then she waited.

King Beast, and Belle behind him tried to appear dignified as they moved to meet her, Not at all like they were being forced to meet her against their wishes. It was beautiful how simple it was to make them look like idiots. She could have quite a lot of fun with that. She could command them to do anything she guessed.

She knew she had to at least try and be mature about it, but she couldn't believe that Ben hadn't ever used kingly commands to his advantage. Or rarely.

The thoughts of Ben hurt, Especially as his parents stood before her looking quite uncomfortable, but she forced her thoughts away from him.

It was obvious they weren't going to be the ones to speak first. "I command that I be allowed to return to the barrier," She started with something easy, testing out her new found power as the other citizens of the barrier looked on. "I will be able to come and go as I please, whenever I please, and no one can question where I go, or what I do." It was the same terms she had asked for when they had wanted her to save Charlie, only that time she wasn't asking.

"Is there anything else you request, Queen Mal?" Belle asked, through gritted teeth. Former King Beast, and Self proposed, now usurped King of the Barrier was too furious to speak.

"I want my own attachment," She decided. With all of the goodies she had scored from their old castle and the research she already had, she needed more space than just the curtain.

More people were starting to gather, called to the sound of her command and the drama they knew would follow with her being back in the barrier. She could see her fellow VKs and other Auradon Prep students looking up to her for standing up to Former King/ Tyrant Beast.

She knew she could reveal their deepest shame to everyone who didn't already know, but she figured she could use that as leverage, should she need it.

"If you do these things, your secrets will be safe," She told them a little quieter.

"You!" Former King Beast shouted as she felt someone enter the barrier behind her. "I let you keep your status as King so Maleficent wouldn't take your kingdom, I offered you immunity after your crimes on the Isle, And this is how you repay me?"

She didn't have to turn to know that King Arthur had entered behind her. "I did what you wouldn't," King Arthur answered, standing his ground and Mal could feel the long lines of their discord in the air. "Whether you want to accept it or not, Adam, She is your only hope." And just like that Beast was subdued into rage yet again. "If she can't save young Benjamin, she is the next eligible heir, no matter how we determine it. Matronage or Patronage."

Belle looked like she had swallowed a large rock and couldn't breath with the weight on her chest. Beast carried his rage like the weight of the world. And everyone else just looked as shocked as was to be expected.

Did no one else realize that yet?

"Adam, you knew this would be coming a long time ago," King Arthur continued and she could hear the smile in his voice, the proud quality it took on, the same one Beast and Belle had had when talking about Ben and his accomplishments. "You have had time to accept it, even though you have tried everything to thwart it."

He clapped his hand onto her shoulder gently. "Ladies and gentleman of the barrier and the last line of defense against Maleficent," He started, turning toward them and away from Beast and Belle. "May I present my daughter, and the only eligible heir to the throne at the moment, Mal Bertha Blackheart Pendragon."

And in that moment, it finally began to sink in.

She had a father. And a kingdom, of sorts.

She would get her castle eventually.


	15. Chapter 15

Stepping out of the barrier was always a feeling of freedom, but that morning, when she could step out of it freely, without the threat of someone dragging her back, was like a freedom she had only experienced once before, the moment the limo had broken through the barrier around the Isle. Just like that time, Jay and Carlos were with her.

The traitorous Blueberry was nowhere to be seen, and Mal preferred it that way.

"So then I became a squirrel and that was one of the funniest experiences," she said, continuing her explanation of what she had done over the near month of being gone. "Did you know they are more aggressive than they seem?" She asked. "And then-"

She stopped in her explanation. Jay and Carlos had stopped right behind her as she came across a decaying fox trapped in an ancient bear trap.

In an instant her mind was flooded with Snot and his memories, the ones she had stolen, the life she had frozen. She wondered how Mud was doing and the mob members that she had let live. Had Tremaine gone back to her mother and passed along her message?

"Mal?" Carlos' soft voice pulled her out of her memories of her time away.

She forced herself out. She couldn't and wouldn't keep thinking about things she couldn't change. "What?" She asked, looking toward the path and the trees and trying to enjoy her freedom.

Still, she couldn't help but think about Snot and his brother and the love that she had severed between them. She was good at severing ties, and not mending them, she realized.

"Did You see Ben while you were out there?" Carlos asked.

"The beast?" She asked, Though she knew exactly what they were asking. "Yeah, I saw him." She tried not to sound too interested, too invested. She knew there was nothing more she could do.

"He has a name," Jay answered, turning back toward where he had been leading them through the forest. "Calling him the beast isn't going to hide the fact that he is still Ben and his time is running out."

Mal stopped in her tracks and stared at both of them. "Not you too!" She said, trying to keep her calm nonchalant tone. "Don't think I won't banish you officially. You can roam the forest with Princess Blueballs." She flashed her wicked smile. "And The Doug she rode in on."

"All we're saying is you can talk about him and call him by his name," Carlos continued. "And yeah, We would like him to be human again, but you do you, Mal."

Mal scoffed. "That thing in the forest is not Ben!" She tried to remain calm, but it came out anything but calm, a spare bit of magic flying from her fingers. "It can't be Ben." Why did his name hurt so much?

Jay stood up to her just as easily. "When have you ever backed down from a challenge?" He asked her. "Why do you refuse to help him?" He challenged again. "Fear has never ever stopped you before, magic or not."

Mal stared him down. "Maybe I don't want to give my mother something else to use against us!" She shouted.

Jay scoffed and Carlos tried to reign them both in, unsuccessfully. "Why do You think she sends the mob out every night?" He asked her. "She's going to get Ben whether you save him or not. Don't tell me you haven't thought about the fact that Ben will be a beast for the rest of his life in less than a month!"

She hadn't really. She had been the prepubescent boy and focusing on her own magic and her mother's plans.

"No more Ben after that," Jay continued. "No more adventures with him exploring the kingdom, no more seeing his smile, or hearing him say your name, no more Ben at all." He seemed to know what got to her. "But if that's what you really want: All Hail Queen Maleficent Jr.!" He shouted loudly into the forest sending the birds from the trees in a loud flurry.

His call would haunt her for days and days.

* * *

The small attachment that she had made for herself was a welcome relief. She couldn't remember the last time she had had a room to herself and to be able to close a door and be completely alone had never felt so good.

Especially as she pulled out her loot from the castle and the close by provinces.

She skimmed through the large book of fairy tales, only to find that it, and Ben's notes in the margins were completely in French. Nothing of use yet, unless she learned French.

Next was the map of the provinces, aged, full of holes and spelling errors, but basically of no use to her. But perhaps at a later time.

Next, the mirror. The magical mirror that had been Beast's, but that she doubted he used very much, or ever. How did it work again?

"Show me the beast!" Mal commanded it.

Through the swirling spirals of grey, came Ben, actual Ben, though she knew that couldn't be the case. Her suspicions were confirmed when she recognized his blue suit from the coronation and him kissing her hand as he placed his ring on it, after he had eaten the brownie, the image of him quickly turning to when he had picked her up after the coronation and spun her around excitedly.

More moments like that followed. But that wasn't Ben anymore.

She couldn't get the Beast from her head. Those eyes, that body, it was completely terrifying. He could pull her to pieces should he wish.

But to see the memories of Ben, yanking the spelled cookie from her hand and taking a huge bite, eating the brownie, the cookie after she had broken his nose. She missed those small moments of delight from him.

Could cookies solve anything?

Probably not.

But it might help to calm her down.


	16. Chapter 16

The small kitchen in the barrier was about what Mal expected it to be. A kitchen completely made of the left behind trash the scavengers could carry, with no fridge, only a hot plate for a stove, and junk everywhere. It wasn't much of a kitchen at all.

She didn't know what she was going to bake, or what she could bake with whatever stocked the pantry, but anything would help calm her down. On The Isle It had been mud pies and swamp gas, or stink bombs. Stink bombs were her favorite.

Her only baking in Auradon had been to spell and unspell Ben. Should she go that route again? Or spell herself rather than him and hope for blowback? Hope for the fact that it would be potent enough to make her feel something like love for the king, former king she realized, who was now a beast in the forest.

It might be her only hope. How else could you love something that you feared?

She moved toward the pantry and hoped for at least the basics, flour, salt, maybe even sugar if she was lucky. If not, she might have to go back into the forest and pull as many herbs as she could find. She just needed to do something to distract her.

She froze as she heard voices.

"We should make wafers," The voice she recognized as Lonnie spoke first, "That way we save flour for Mrs. Potts to make more bread for the infirmary."

"That is a beautiful idea, Love," Mulan's voice answered and Mal stayed frozen where she was. "You're so smart for thinking of it."

Mal felt like she had walked into something that she shouldn't have and she tried to back out, only they saw her before she could.

Lonnie gasped in surprise, looking up from the large recipe book. "Mal!" She exclaimed in excitement and delight. "Queen Mal!" She continued once she remembered.

Ben had been right, it was strange.

"Join us!" Lonnie continued with a soft smile, beckoning her forward so gently that Mal couldn't help but want to actually join them.

She forced her feet forward and met them closer to the fully stocked shelves as they looked for ingredients. Mulan gave her a gentle smile that made her feel warm and wanted.

"We've never actually formally met," Mulan spoke, her smile, everything about her gentle. Not what Mal expected from the greatest warrior of what was once China. "I am happy to serve you however you wish, Queen Mal."

Mal believed it too, but she had to keep her upper hand. "Tell me what you're making," she spoke, keeping her tone even and neutral.

Why did any kind of baking remind her of Ben, the Beast, whatever he was?

Lonnie just smiled and pulled the sad tiny container of chocolate shavings. "Chocolate peanut butter wafers," she answered. "We would love for you to join us, if you would like," Lonnie added with slight nervousness.

She did need to calm down, and baking and mixing and thinking about things other than the current state of affairs. "What can I do to help?" She asked, deciding that it would help rather than hurt.

"Dry ingredients," Lonnie explained, handing her the diminishing supply of flour and the few other dry ingredients. "Mom and I will take care of everything else." She continued. "Unless your majesty objects."

Mal fought hard against the instinct to turn around and hope to see Ben standing there. Ever since those in the barrier had started referring to her as her title, she always had the urge to turn and hope to see him.

Quite a stark difference from their first weeks at Auradon Prep.

Mal shook her head. "Tell me about how to make cookies," she decided. "You two don't seem the type, between martial arts, dance and ju jitsu," she said.

Mulan and Lonnie just gave her small smiles. She figured they must have gotten that a lot.

"I've never been one to follow the rules," Mulan spoke, as if she had told the story several times before. "When my father was summoned to war again, I did the only thing I could do and took his place." She remembered with a small satisfied smile. "I wasn't one that the matchmaker saw fit to pair so I used my skills to save all of what was once China."

Mal stared. "You saved China by baking cookies?" She asked. She had never actually heard the real story.

Lonnie laughed. "Feminine wiles," Mulan explained. "The Huns expected the soldiers to try and stage an attack, but they didn't expect the concubines that had been sent as gifts to be the soldiers in disguise." She flipped the aged recipe in front of her nose and mouth like a fan. "They didn't see the truth right under their noses until it was too late."

Mal stared down at the ingredients swiftly forming batter.

Were cookies the answer?

* * *

She needed to research more. There was never enough research that she could do to feel prepared to find Ben, or Usurp her mother, or both. Luckily, since her magic had surged after her few weeks with the hunting party, she barely had to read the books, just touch them and their knowledge would be shown to her.

It saved a ton of time. She could just pick up a book and in a matter of seconds, the knowledge, the sheer power was all hers.

She picked up the book from the secret library that he had made for her what seemed like an eternity ago, intending to move it and reach more of the herb and magic filled books, But the information came to her anyway.

 _Comme l'exige le roi, il sera._

Something about a king, that much she knew.

She figured it could be important, but she needed to find something to translate it. Maybe Carlos and Jay would want to come with her while she raided the provinces.

First, she had to find them.

The sun was bright, even through the barrier, and she shielded her face with her hand. It wasn't like anything had changed since Arthur had announced her, but everything was beginning to feel different.

"Jay! Carlos!" She didn't have to call them loudly at all and in barely an instant, they were there.

"You rang, My Queen?" Jay asked with a smirk, his eyebrow raised in a pleased way. He definitely got a kick out of the whole thing.

Carlos looked just as pleased next to him.

"I need a French book," Mal said. "Find me one, and make it quick." She kept her face neutral. The small mention of a king shook her more than she cared to admit.

"Your wish is our command!" Carlos answered with a smile and just like that they were gone.


	17. Chapter 17

Mal panted, her chest heaving as she barely made it through the barrier before her shape shifting fell away to reveal the purple hair framing her face and her scarred hands. She had decided a rabbit was the best form to search for the freshest herbs and spell ingredients, for every little thing from the spell she didn't want to think about to the needs of those in the barrier. She knew someone was filching her ingredients, but she wasn't sure just who it was yet. Either way, it gave her an excuse to leave the barrier and gather more.

But she hasn't expected the fox to give such a chase. She stood against one of the aged fallen trees, the magic that had felled it still strong. The coarse herbs of the Speticiam plant gripped hard in her fist.

The din of a branch breaking somewhere close pulled her attention away from her success of herb collecting, her nerves tight after the incident with the fox. She let out a small sigh of relief as she saw Charlie, meandering through the trees.

" _Pour la mere, pour la mere,"_ she repeated as she stumbled by, unseeing of everything around her, her hands balled up. She did not seem herself at all and Mal stared for longer than she should have before Charlie knocked right into her, seemingly coming out of the daze. "Mal!" She said excitedly. "Can we go to the field of flowers today?"

She almost hated to break the young girl's heart, but her usefulness had run its course. "I can't today," Mal lied and it almost tasted wrong in her mouth. She had better things to do now that she could leave the barrier, do anything she wanted, freely.

Charlie left her then, seeming a little disappointed, but she knew she would get over it soon enough.

"Mal!" Carlos' voice came from behind her, quickly followed by Jay's voice calling her name as well. "Mal! We found it!"

She turned back toward them, keeping her face neutral. King Arthur had advised her that it was never wise to show excitement of any emotion too overtly or someone could use it against you. Though she could feel their excitement as they ran toward her, waving a book high in the air.

A french book.

She took it as they stood before her and tried to quell the shaking in her hands. She wouldn't actually have to do any studying. Just a mere touch would give her the information she needed. It had worked with of the other books, there was no reason it wouldn't work for that book too.

Basic French. That was what she got. She realized that as she sat in front of the book of fairy tales later.

She would have to have them get her another, more, any french books they could find. Unless…

"Show me the story, full of heroes and glory, the story before me that reads "as the king commands, so shall it be" let it appear before me." She pulled her hand up from the book to reveal smoke figures.

The prince and the witch, their meeting and her knotting her feelings into the blanket. The king returning and a violent altercation instead. The king drawing his sword and the witch killing herself before he could

That was not what she had expected.

Why would Ben lie to her like that? Why wouldn't he tell her the real story.? The fact that the witch died for performing magic.

She froze. That was his favorite story?!


	18. Chapter 18

A chorus of a dented trumpet woke her in the morning. "Hear ye, hear ye!" The sound of one of the royal guards came through the small cracked window. "A day of celebration is in order!"

Wait! It was too early for his birthday. She checked the watch to make sure and then cursed herself. She could pretend in front of everyone else, but when she was alone, it all hit her like a freight train. She missed him, but she still had no way to save him.

"Today is the day we celebrate King Adam and his Queen Belle and their 24 years of happy marriage."

Oh no. It was a day to not be in the barrier. It sounded like a good day to explore the forest more.

As the weeks went on, she found herself noting the changes in the forest, however minute they were. As any animal she chose the forest looked different. To the squirrel, high above the ground it was large and vast, to the bear plodding along looking for berries with her sharp nose, nothing was smaller. It was beautiful all on it's own and she found herself wishing for someone to share it with.

She had never actively sought out the beast, but he hadn't come anywhere near where she frequented either. None of the other forest animals had chattered about him either, and the hunting parties had been absent since her complete fury upon them. Good riddance to them, she decided.

However, that morning, she found something more than strange in the forest. Herself.

She had been flying through the air as a blue bird, looking for any signs of herbs or flowers she could use, anything to avoid Belle and her Beast on their sickeningly sweet day, when she saw the flash of purple through the trees.

At first, she hesitated. Purple, that shade of purple that had never been seen anywhere else. That particular shade that was Maleficent's signature. Then she flew down to get a closer look.

It was herself alright. Long hair, the same dress from the Summer festivities, a gentle hum on her lips. If whoever it was pretending to be her, they weren't trying that hard.

"Oh Ben!" The other her called out. "Benny-Boo!"

Oh hell no! Whoever it was, most likely sent by her mother, if the last plot was any indication, was not about to try and trap Ben. The beast. Whoever he was.

Mal knew she had to step in. She pulled all of the magic from the forest that she could and transformed into the beast herself. Those hulking shoulders, those piercing eyes, that menacing snarl, and bounded through the trees, ready to cause havoc.

The person pretending to be her was about to regret it. Her screams would be so satisfying.

* * *

Mal returned to the barrier satisfied that whoever was pretending to be her wouldn't be a bother for quite a while. With enough from her long claws and her sharp teeth she could see the damage she had done to her imposter. It would at least give her a little time to come up with a plan to find Ben, the beast first. It helped ease her frustrations at Belle and her Beast too.

Their festivities had died down when she returned. Most of the citizens of the barrier quieted down for the night, wrapped up in their bed rolls since the nights were still cold. There was the soft hum of music from Belle and Beast's loft, the light soft from the window as she passed toward her partition.

The song was familiar as she got closer. Only now she understood it.

 _The blue sky can collapse in on itself  
And the earth can cave in_

She found herself standing outside their window, listening to the soft music and the lyrics that Ben had had to translate for her before.

 _Little matters to me if you love me  
I couldn't care less about the whole world_

Wait! He hadn't mentioned anything about love when he had translated it.

 _If you'll have me._

That was what he had said. Why hadn't he just translated it correctly? Why hadn't he told her the truth about the Witch's Knot? Why hadn't he told her about the spell he was under and how to break it.

 _As long as love will flood my mornings  
As long as my body will quiver beneath your hands  
The problems matter so little to me  
My love, because you love me_

She found herself frozen there, thinking about Ben and their time together. The love spell, the instances that she had tried to about him. Their dance to that song and how he had whispered it into her ear as if he was still under the spell himself. How timid he had seemed to mention love as soon as they had agreed to date.

The more she thought about it, the more it began to make more sense.

 _I would go to the ends of the earth  
I would dye my hair blonde  
If you asked me to  
I would pull down the moon  
I would steal fortune  
If you asked me to  
I would disavow my homeland  
I would disavow my friends  
If you asked me to  
One could well laugh at me  
I would do anything  
I would do anything  
If you asked me to_

Yes, the love spell had worked. Yes, he was under it and might still be under it. Yes there was the chance of blow back or bounce back or whatever King Arthur had explained.

Yes, Ben was a beast.

 _If one day life tears you away from me  
If you die and go far from me  
Little matters to me if you love me  
Because I will die too  
We would have eternity for ourselves  
In the blue of all the immensity  
In heaven, no more problems  
My love, do you believe that we love each other?_

But she found herself breaking from the inside out. Something cracking inside of her as she listened to the song and truly understood it for the first time.

 _God reunites those who love each other_

She needed to find Ben.

* * *

"Oh Great Leader!" Jay exclaimed, with an over exaggerated bow, "What do you ask of us now?" He asked.

She didn't trust anyone else to give her the answers she needed. Jay and Carlos were her closest friends and Princess Blue balls hadn't been seen in weeks. Not that she wanted to see her anyway.

"My mother is planning something," Mal said. "I want to know what you know."

Jay let out a loud laugh and Carlos joined reluctantly. "She's always planning something. Where do you think you get your brains from?" He asked.

Mal tried to keep her composure. "What is her plan with Ben?" She asked. "You guys have to know something from your scavenging."

Carlos looked uncomfortable. "We suspected she had a plan involving you and Ben," he admitted. "Since she would be Queen if Ben was unable to be human again and if you died." That made sense. Her mother was always after the throne. "It makes sense that she would want to capture Ben before you could get to him and lure you to her."

"I need ideas," she admitted, spinning the watch between her hands, it was slowly winding down to when she would be queen, when Ben would be a beast forever. "We can't let her capture him."

"Mal," Jay spoke, "It almost sounds like you care."

With them, she could be honest. "He can't fall into my mother's hands." She remembered the excursions with the mob. "I've seen what they've almost done. Anthony Tremaine-"

She stopped as an idea struck her.

"I need to get to Tremaine," She decided.


	19. Chapter 19

Carlos and Jay had called her crazy. They said to go right to Tremaine, Maleficent's second in command was a suicide mission. It could leave all of them vulnerable. The only resistance against her left.

Mal did it anyway.

She traveled through the forest as a hawk, eyes sharp for anything. When she got closer to the compound and Snot's grave, the dirt still fresh, she shifted back into a nondescript human, the same hair color she had used on her excursion to the mall. She made her nose too long, her cheeks too puffy to not look too much like herself.

Her Target was Tremaine, but she couldn't be too overt about it. She hung back, watched the goings on of the compound, how dull it all seemed. Where was the terror, where was the chaos?

Her mother was slipping.

The longer she watched, the more she took in. The way prisoners were brought from the forest, dirty and trying to escape to somewhere safe, even though there were no safe places. She noticed they were taken to the leader of that province and she figured Tremaine wasn't far.

She joined them, her skirts becoming more dirtied as she got closer. She would find a way to get to Tremaine.

"Women to the right, men to the left, children run or the dogs will get ya!" The large hulking man called out. She made her way toward the women, knowing she would sneak away eventually.

"There you are!" A familiar voice she hadn't expected to hear called out and grabbed her arm, pulling her away. She turned quickly, more out of shock than fear to see Mud pulling her toward the familiar hut. "I told you you would get lost in the forest!" He admonished, shoving her into the empty hut and slamming the door.

"What the hell are you doing?" She asked, trying to keep the ruse up that she didn't know him more than she should.

"I know you," he said, then stopped and reconsidered. "Well not you like this, but I recognize you." He shook his head as if he wasn't sure. "I mean-" She stared at him, waiting. "Your mother has a spell around the castle that dissolves any other magic. She'll know you're coming."

She stared at him, more specifically the smudges of dirt across his nose. "How did you know?" There was obviously more to him than met her eye.

"My brother, Mark, you were him, you knew him as Snot, but he came to me and said you were coming, that I would recognize you." She couldn't help but keep staring. "I'll help however I can. So what can I do?" He asked.

She didn't know what it was that made her trust him. Perhaps it was the memories she had of him as Snot, no Mark. Or maybe she was becoming soft the longer she was away from her mother. "Tremaine," she said. "I need to speak with him, as me." She knew better than to say her name.

Mud nodded. "I can make that happen," he said, "Though there's no guarantee that he won't go to your mother."

She nodded along. "I know," she said. "But it's a risk I have to take."

Mud nodded along. "He spends most of his time with her, convinced that his prize for pleasing her will be your hand," he explained. "Bur he comes by around ration time to brag He won't shut up about it and will tell anyone who will listen. That's your best time."

"Make it happen," she instructed.

"HEY TREMAINE!" Mud shouted as soon as Tremaine and a few others arrived with the rations exactly like they had arrived on the isle. "IS THERE ANYONE WHO DOESN'T KNOW YOUR MOTHER IS A WHORE?"

Apparently, Mud knew exactly what to say to set him off and in that instant he was darting off into a run for the younger boy and right into the empty sleeping cabin.

And right into her.

She stood taller than she normally did, and squared her shoulders like she had learned to do when making proclamations to the barrier and more specifically Belle and her Beast of a husband. She took a deep breath as soon as she saw him enter and stumble to his knees.

"You must be as empty headed as your mother to be working for my mother," She spoke slowly and calmly with just an edge of ice. She let the transformative magic fall and felt her familiar features fall into place. She knew that was what he responded to best.

He stared up at her with a kind of awe she had missed. She couldn't remember the last time she had seen someone look at her with such awe, such raw need.

"Is it really you?" He asked, his mood completely changed, his eyes softer.

Mal watched him carefully. What did Anthony Tremaine have to gain from knowing the truth? Could she pass herself off as the imposter and still have him do her bidding as asked? Her mother wouldn't easily send her imposter to torture Anthony Tremaine, or would she?

The way he looked, so hopeful, there was no way her mother had tortured him with that possibility yet. "It's me," she answered with a nod. That meant she could get him to do anything she wanted him to do.

He proved her point as he pulled her into a tight embrace. "I can't believe it!" He exclaimed. "I've been so worried about you!"

She was starting to feel uncomfortable, especially since she knew he was lying. "I'm fine now," she said, playing into the ruse. "You don't need to find the beast anymore." If it would keep Ben safe, she would do it.

"I can't do that," Tremaine answered. "Your mother needs him." She knew she needed more information from him, but she couldn't seem too eager.

"She _needed_ him to wake me up," she said. "She _wants_ him so I can't break his curse with true love." She made a face at the words true and love. "As far as I'm concerned, he can stay a beast forever, I've got my kingdom now." She crawled her hand up his chest. "I just need someone to share it with." She could see she had him hooked. " _IF_ you call off the mob."

"Prove it," Anthony Tremaine said. "Prove that you're not still in love with him." She stared up at him, hoping her eyes didn't betray the fear she felt inside. Auradon had made her softer than she had anticipated.

"Name it," She said.

Tremaine's face changed. "I want the one thing your prince never got, and can never have. I want your first time." Why hadn't she expected anything less? "If I'm satisfied, I'll call off the mob."

"Fine," she answered, not even thinking about it. It couldn't be that hard if Princess Blue Balls had done it.

"Don't you have somewhere else you need to be?" Tremaine asked Mud, who was still standing in the cabin looking like he had been struck by lightning. Tremaine grabbed Mal around the waist, harder than she expected, but she didn't let it phase her. She had grown up on the isle.

There was always much worse.

She didn't watch Mud leave, but she knew as soon as he did judging by the sound of the cabin door slamming hard and the way Tremaine nearly attacked her, his hands and fingers dexterously pulling at her skirts and her skin.

He didn't ask, he just removed her cloak, her dress, her petticoats, his hands sure and steady. Ben would have asked she realized as the loud clink of metal hitting the wood floor seemed to awaken her senses.

She stared down at the gold ring just catching the light from the sliver through the window. She had forgotten that she had shoved it into her bra as soon as Carlos and Jay had found it what seemed like an eternity ago.

It bore a hole into her, staring at her with the eyes that it didn't have, and suddenly Tremaine's hands felt all wrong, too forceful, too strange.

She couldn't do it.

"No!" She said, shoving him away, the magic zinging through her like lightning and knocking him back.

In a matter of seconds she was running, Ben's ring back on her finger, pulling her clothes back on the best she could.

She didn't have to look at the timer around her neck to know she was running out of time.


	20. Chapter 20

"Show me the beast," Mal said, her hands shaking as she held the mirror. Her time with Tremaine had shaken her more than she realized as she stood in her partition panting, her heart racing in her ears. Tremaine had probably already reached her mother and had sent the mob out for him, for the beast.

No, for Ben.

She made sure she wasn't followed back into the barrier, so they were safe, but Ben wasn't.

The mirror didn't show her anything, just her reflection and the grey swirling of magic at the edges. She was running out of time and she could feel herself already failing.

She sighed and took a deep breath. "Show me Ben," she whispered, scared of what might appear and what could never be again. "Show me Benjamin Florian Adamson," she repeated, louder and stronger.

In her hands, the mirror shook violently, the grey mist covering her reflection and swirling to show the beast of the Forest, his eyes the same as Ben's. Mal was sure if the mirror kept shaking that violently, it was going to rip her arms off, so she let it drop.

Surprisingly, it didn't shatter, but spun on the floor violently, spewing paper of several different sizes and shapes into the air. She caught her breath and gripped one from the air.

Ben's handwriting. Ben's drawing.

She grabbed another.

Ben's handwriting. Ben's drawing.

Je t'aime plus que les fraises.

I love you more than strawberries.

She took a deep breath and the well within her broke. All of the emotions she had been shoving down, ignoring for as long as she could, broke through.

Ben…

He had been so open about his feelings then, but she hadn't known he had been lying to her the whole time either. She didn't know what she should do.

Ben's love notes, all of the ones he had sent her way, littered the floor of her partition, all blurring into one big note, one declaration.

Could she handle the fact that he had lied to her, kept secrets from her, trusted her enough to keep everything from her?

She froze and let out a groan. She knew exactly who she needed to talk to, but it meant possibly apologizing and she had never been good at that.

Still, for Ben, she would try.

* * *

She quelled the shaking in her hands as she stood in front of the large partition that had been made for Belle and her beast. She took a deep breath and knocked hard.

The few seconds that she waited for an answer seemed like small eternities. When Belle opened the door, complete surprise on her face, Mal couldn't find a way to keep it subtle.

"Why did you stay with him after you knew what he had done?" She asked, unable to keep her cheeks dry.

Belle stared back at her, the surprise blatant as the nose on her face. "Come in and I'll make some tea." She pulled Mal inside and sat her down at the same table as before.

They were both quiet until the kettle whistled and Belle placed the two cups before them. Belle spoke first. "Everyone makes mistakes," she said, stirring a spoonful of sugar into her tea. "Every relationship is about compromise, and some things you just have to be willing to forgive."

Mal looked up at her. Could it really be that simple?

"I was furious when I found out," She continued. "Screamed, yelled, threw anything I could that was breakable, aiming right for his head. I kicked him out, told him to never ever come back or I would murder him." Mal could almost see it, a younger pregnant Belle releasing her rage on to her husband, the king. "And it took time, but eventually I forgave him because he was doing what he thought was best for our family."

Mal couldn't help the hiccup that followed. The words still weren't ready to come out of her mouth.

"I know my son," Belle continued, testing a sip of her tea and setting it back down. "If he put his faith in you without telling you of our mistakes and his past then I trust you too."

Mal continued to stare at her. "You really shouldn't," she answered with a sniff. "I still don't know how to save him." She considered that her biggest failure.

"Did you know that none of the castle staff told me there was a curse?" Belle asked her. "I didn't have any idea what was happening when the magic started, I just knew I loved him as whatever he was."

Mal froze, nearly dropping her tea in her lap. Could she love Ben as whatever he was? Boy, man, beast and anything in between? She couldn't be sure. "Do you still love your son, your daughter, your beast, whatever he is now?" She asked.

Belle held her gaze, her eyes soft. "When you're a mother, you'll understand, but when you've got that little life inside of you, you only want what's best for them. It doesn't matter what they are or what they will be, you love them anyway."

"Did you ever have a name for her?" Mal asked, sipping her tea timidly.

Belle nodded. "Beatrice Florence," she said. "After my mother." Mal nodded along. "I would have loved to use it for our daughter, but it was one of the things we gave up for Ben to be human."

"I don't know if I can save him," Mal admitted before she could stop herself. "I mean-" she added. "If I made him the beast, I don't know if I can save him." It was that moment she remembered that they weren't that close.

Belle nodded. "We had a back up plan," she admitted. "If you weren't up for it and we had to save him ourselves, but perhaps it can still work."

Mal stared at her, waiting for more of an explanation.

"We thought if we reminded him of things he loved as a human it would revert him, but nothing has been successful. But if you help, maybe that will change."

Mal shook her head. "As much as I would love to do that, what is your plan for my mother?" She asked. "If I bring Ben back or not, she is still your biggest threat."

Belle nodded along. "We're aware," she said. "We were hoping that if he were to become human again we could mount an army against her and he could take back the crown."

"And if he can't become human again?" Mal asked. "You know as well as anyone, Kings cannot be recoronated."

"You," Belle answered. "You demanded the crown if you couldn't or wouldn't save Ben and that was our solution. Let you and your mother fight it out and escape while we could."

"You still can," Mal answered. "Though you would never leave without Ben." She realized, wondering if she would ever feel the same way.

"The same way your friends wouldn't leave without you," Belle answered. "How they never stopped trying to help you, even when you pushed them all away."

Mal looked up from her nearly forgotten tea to see Jay and Carlos standing near the door, Doug between them. And where Doug went-

"Evie!" Mal exclaimed, finally noting her blue black hair behind the boys. She was never so relieved to see her.

Evie smiled. "We're ready to help you save Ben however we can," she said. "Doug and I have traveled across the seven kingdoms gathering supplies. Whatever you might need."

"I can't," Mal realized. "I don't know how and time is running out."

Evie hauled her up from the floor. "Do you know why all of Ben's love notes appeared from the mirror?" She asked. "Because you love Ben, Mal." Mal started to shake her head. She didn't know anything about love. "Yes, you do," Evie continued. "You know you do."

"I turned him into the beast," Mal said, shaking her head. "If it was true love, it would have saved him."

Evie took both of her hands and grabbed Mal's cheeks, holding her there and holding her gaze. "You can do this, Mal," she repeated. "The only way those drawings would have returned to you is if you felt at least something for Ben."

Mal felt the trembling in her chest, the fear threatening to shut her down. "There's no time," she said.

There were only a few days remaining before his eighteenth birthday. She didn't have to wind the stopwatch to know that.

"So you're just going to give up without even trying?" Evie asked. "That doesn't sound like the Mal that I know. Auradon has made you soft! The Mal I know would fight like hell."

Mal realized she was right. "I'm ready to start fighting like hell," She decided.


	21. Chapter 21

He could feel the magic in the air as he roamed the forest. It tickled the hair on the back of his neck and made his muscles tense and his bones ache. He couldn't focus on the hunt as the fawn scrambled through the trees away from him. It was more than a mere hunger he couldn't satisfy.

"Ben," A voice whispered through the trees, a name he hadn't heard in a long time, a voice he refused to believe was real. Still, his instinct was to turn toward it.

The shadow of a girl had her voice, but nothing else. An illusion and nothing more. He ran from the past he couldn't escape, knowing the nightmares would come next.

"Ben!" The whisper came again, the same figment standing before him, that evil song growing louder through the trees.

 _But we're not coming home_

 _Until he's dead_

 _Kill the beast_

He turned away from both and bounded through the trees, trying to find refuge anywhere he could.

He froze as he came to a clearing with a single human. His interactions with humans had never gone well.

"Ben," It was her voice more solid, physical, but he knew it couldn't be her.

He didn't even let her get any further. "Leave my sight you blasphemous waif!" He growled. He had had enough of the deceptions in the forest, the nightmares, the pain. He wanted nothing more than to tear her to shreds. Whoever she was pretending to be.

"Ben," she said again, turning around and pulling down the hood of the cloak to reveal hair the wrong color. "It's me." The magic zinged through the air, making his cockles rise as her hair changed back to that characteristic purple.

"Liar!" He growled, baring his fangs and forcing his way back away from her. He could still hear the mob at his back. But the more immediate threat was in front of him, whoever Maleficent had spelled that time.

"Benny Boo," The imposter spoke gently. "I know you have no reason to trust me, but I would never lie to you." For a brief second, he wanted to believe her, his chest growing light at the familiar sight before him. He wanted to believe her, them, whoever it was that looked so much like her. Instead, he came to his senses and curled his paw, ready to swipe and run at the first opportunity.

She was an imposter. She didn't even look like Mal. Her hair was too long, her face too full of fear. Mal had never been scared of anything.

She took a deep breath and he found himself wanting to believe it was her. This one was the most like Mal yet, besides that look of fear and apprehension on her face. "You once asked me what scared me," She said, her eyes locked on his even though her hands were shaking. "I lied and said that nothing scares me."

No one else had been there for that conversation, unless it had been the fake Mal the whole time. It didn't prove anything.

"I watched you die," he growled, doing his best to try and avoid her eyes, but he found he was trapped there. "I murdered you and you dare to stand here and tell me about what scares you?" He was about to scar that imposter up too, send her back to Maleficent with a personal message.

"Who told you that?" She asked. "My mother? Who is full of lies?" She seemed not as scared in an instant. "Did she tell you that you clawed me to death?" She asked, the stars seeming to shine in her purple hair, that distinct shade that he had missed so much. She pulled up her sleeve to reveal silvery scars. "That was the only thing you caused." She said. "I'm still here, Ben."

She reached under her skirt with a sigh and he readied himself to pounce, slash and hack if she pulled out a weapon. He watched as she pulled a knife and flipped it so it was facing her. He stared back at her, his eyes catching her. The determination on her face was refreshing, but he still wasn't sure what it meant.

"Do you remember about my mother's mark?" She asked, urging him to take the knife. "How it can't be replicated or harmed?" She pulled up her sleeve and presented the same mark to him. None of the others had done that. "Do your worst," she said.

None of the others had actually asked him to harm them. This Mal was different and he could see that, but he still didn't have proof that she was the correct Mal, so he raised his paw and swiped against the familiar mark, the familiar screams of the victims before not reaching his ears.

That imposter didn't scream, the only sound in the darkness was the mob getting closer with their stupid song and the whine of his claws against pure metal. Her mark hadn't changed, but his claws ached with pain and the skin surrounding the mark was gruesome from his claws.

He didn't know what to think, especially as he watched the deep gashes disappear with what he could only describe as magic. "Mal?" He found himself asking, before he could force the logic back into his head.

She nodded slowly. "I'm sorry it took me so long," She said with a slight smile. "But how could you not tell me about this, Ben?" She asked, her fury unmatched.

It was his turn to be scared, and finally feel the shame of what he had become. Could she ever love him when he looked like that? Did he have any hope before his eighteenth birthday, however close or far away that was?

"I-" He started, but found he had no answer that he could explain when he would rather drink her in after so long without her.

"If you had told me before, I could have found a solution before it got this bad," she said. "I could have found a spell long ago that could have at least given you more time."

"No!" Ben growled. "There is no spell that can break it."

The mob only seemed to be getting closer, their song louder, but he couldn't find the words that he needed to tell her. He didn't even know it was possible, since her kiss had turned him into the beast. That wasn't supposed to happen until his eighteenth birthday.

"It's a good thing that I did more than just research spells, isn't it, Benjamin Florian Adamson?" She asked, pulling her backpack off of her shoulders when that didn't work. She punctuated every syllable of his name and it struck fear into his heart.

Meredith and anyone else that his parents had sent had already tried his full name, along with throwing clothes at him, and trying to remind him of the human joys that he had enjoyed, but he knew nothing could break the spell but true love. Something he had thought he had had in Mal after that summer and their time together, but he had been wrong.

He felt so ashamed, especially as Mal had tried all of the things that everyone else had already tried. Still, he wished they would work, though he knew they wouldn't.

The clothes she threw at him burned into bright flames as they touched his fur, the memories of his childhood turned sour in his head and made his eyes ache. His name, Benjamin Florian Adamson sounded like someone else. Someone else he couldn't reach. A past version of himself that no longer existed.

He could see she was getting disheartened as she held out one of Mrs. Pott's cherry cookies, crumbling and dry, but she persisted. It crumbled in his large paw, unable to work whatever magic it contained.

"No! No! No!" She exclaimed as a loud beeping rang through the trees and he felt more solid in his fur than ever before. She sniffled loudly. "I'm too late." She gasped out. "I'm too late!"

Too late for?

"Happy birthday, Ben."

 _Hello Everyone! This is the end of this part of the story, but keep your eyes out for the next installment. It will be rated M, so keep that in mind as well. I'll see you all soon!_


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